


Play Pretend

by nineofhearts



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-20 11:32:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 59,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3648774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nineofhearts/pseuds/nineofhearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt has spent the better part of the last five years half in love with his best friend Blaine. What will happen when Blaine has to get married in order to inherit his grandparents money?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> This is a completed fic. I'll be posting three chapters a week. M-W-F the first week, Sun-Tues-Thurs for the remainder.
> 
> Thank you to mailroomorder, electrictoes, and heywhoaIwroteafic for being my betas <3 This fic wouldn't be the same without you guys, whether I pulled you in two years ago, at three am the other night, or a few months ago when I finally decided to throw my focus at it.

It was second week of January and Kurt was already feeling the stress of being back in school. He was in his second to last semester at NYADA, somehow managing to retain his internship at Vogue.com on a part time basis, and was living with Rachel and Santana for the third year in a row. On top of all of that, Blaine had ended up in New York City after graduating Dalton the year after Kurt had graduated McKinley. To Kurt’s delight, he’d ended up attending NYADA as well, and was only a semester behind him. Having another friendly face in the fickle NYADA corridors was a relief, even if the rumor mill did immediately assume that the two of them were dating.

The weather was oddly nice for January, so Kurt decided to stop by Blaine’s apartment on his way home from class. Blaine only lived a few blocks away from Kurt’s place – closer to NYADA than him actually – so Kurt didn’t really have to go out of his way to visit. Besides, he had plans to talk to Blaine tonight anyways, he might as well do it in person.

* * *

"How'd the talk with the lawyers go?" Kurt asked when he arrived at Blaine's apartment that evening.

Blaine cringed slightly. "Yeah... it was interesting..." Kurt raised a questioning eyebrow as Blaine trailed off. He grabbed a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and two glasses from the kitchen. It sounded like this conversation was going to call for alcohol.

"Go on," Kurt gestured for Blaine to continue, empty wine glass in his hand. He settled down in the armchair next to Blaine as he poured two drinks.

Blaine sighed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly before speaking, not quite meeting Kurt's eyes. "Apparently, in order to inherit my grandparents’ estate I have to be married for at least a year. And according to their stipulations, I have a month to get married before their estate goes to someone else.”

"What?!" Kurt spluttered, setting down his glass so he didn't spill it everywhere in shock. "You just turned twenty one!"

"Yeah... I'm still confused that they're giving everything to me instead of Cooper or my parents or any other relatives honestly. Regardless, why they want me to be married I don’t even understand. Apparently, it ‘connotes responsibility.’ Do they realize I'm twenty one and single?!"

There was a long pause as Blaine grabbed the bottle of wine and sipped directly from it.

Kurt stared at him in shock.

Blaine set the bottle back down. “If I were twenty five I’d be able to inherit just fine without marriage actually.”

Kurt blinked, silently thanking his own grandparents for being normal. "So... what are you going to do?"

"I kind of don't really have a choice, I have to do it," Blaine groaned. "The inheritance includes the house my parents are living in, and the terms of the will don’t allow me to get married for an hour to get everything, and then have it annulled. My grandparents set it up so that I would gain temporary property rights and a quarter of the money now, and the rest of it on the date of my first wedding anniversary. I don't even know... I’ve been trying to think of someone I could ask. I don’t know that many single gay guys though… There’s Luke.. and there’s...,” he rubbed his forehead in consternation. “I could maybe ask Jeff? He’s bi..." Blaine trailed off, staring into space.

A little hurt that Blaine apparently didn’t even see him as an option, Kurt took a sip from his glass. “Well, you could always marry me,” he joked. “I look fantastic in a tux.”

Blaine blinked, eyes widening as he looked over at Kurt. “Wait, would you?” Kurt stared at him. “I didn’t even think- Shit. Sorry. I know that was mostly a joke, I just- It could work?”

Kurt’s jaw dropped a little. “Are you- Really?”

“Think about it! We’re best friends, you already know what the situation is...” Blaine hesitated. “I trust you way more than I do anyone else.”

Kurt bit his lip. He was tempted to say yes, but… he opened his mouth to speak but Blaine got there first.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but I think we could do it?”

"Yeah that’s- I," Kurt took the wine off the table and downed some of it himself. "Huh.” He set the bottle back down, mind racing. “Maybe? Let's just... Sleep on it. We can talk about it in the morning.” He paused before meeting Blaine’s surprised gaze. “Although," Kurt attempted to tease, hoping to add some levity to the situation, "If we do decide to do this, I expect an actual proposal, mister."

A laugh startled out of Blaine. "Yeah, okay, I think I could do that. It's the least I could do if you decide you'll do this for me."

"Good. Now I'm going to go to my apartment to think about this. I'll be back in the morning around eleven?"

"Yeah, okay, that sounds good. I’ll see you in the morning then." Blaine walked Kurt to the door, hugging him before he exited.

Closing the door after Kurt, Blaine slumped against it and slid to the floor in despair. Someone should have told him about this inheritance condition sooner. Or his grandparents could have just not included it in the first place. This would not even be a problem if his family didn't live in a house that was technically part of his grandparents’ estate. Because of this, they would lose their house and half of their belongings if Blaine didn't inherit. Plus there was the fact that his uncle would inherit if Blaine didn’t and he would take it. He hadn’t even mentioned that aspect of the situation to Kurt. His uncle would try to make it impossible for them to just be legally married. They would have to act like a married couple, too.

* * *

Kurt let himself into Blaine's apartment at 8:58 the next morning. He peeked into Blaine's room to find him starfished out on the bed. Kurt smiled at the sight before easing the door closed. At least one of them had been able to fall asleep. While he was waiting for Blaine to wake up, he could make them some food. Chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Their typical breakfast when they had a busy day ahead of them.

An hour later, Blaine stumbled out of his room. Kurt looked up and couldn't help but grin at his best friend’s poofy hair and the way he was rubbing at his eyes sleepily like a small child.

"What're you doing here so early?" Blaine got out around a yawn.

Kurt removed the last pancake from the pan before turning the stove off and moving to face Blaine. Shrugging, he said, "I woke up at seven and couldn't fall back asleep, so I figured I would come by and make us some breakfast."

"Alright," Blaine looked around, an adorably lost expression on his face. "I... I'm going to shower real quick?"

"Take all the time you need. And this cup of coffee." He pushed a mug into Blaine's hands before turning him to face the door.

"Thanks," Blaine yawned, cuddling the mug close to him with a smile on his face as he breathed it in. "I'll try not to take too long."

Ten minutes later Blaine emerged from the bathroom. His hair was a wet, curly mess, but he was fully dressed and looked much more awake.

"I can't believe you broke into my apartment to make me delicious breakfast."

"I've heard fiancés are supposed to do things like that. Or,” he grinned slyly, “Fiancés to be."

Blaine grabbed a plate and had a piece of bacon halfway to his mouth before Kurt's words registered. "Wait, you mean you'll do it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course I will. We just need to talk out details so we're both on the same page here."

"Okay, okay yeah, we can do that." Blaine beamed at him, a happily surprised look in his eyes. "We can definitely do that. Alright, umm, telling people the truth about this? The fewer people who know it’s a sham, the better, because my inheritance might be revoked if someone finds out."

Kurt shot him a confused look as he finished cleaning the counter. “How is anyone involved on the legal side of things going to find out and then revoke your rights?”

“Oh, right, I forgot I hadn’t told you. My Uncle John – my dad’s younger brother – apparently inherits if I don’t. Which would theoretically be lovely and could solve all of our problems, but he’s kind of-” Blaine sighed. “He’s kind of a jerk and hates my dad, so he wouldn’t be letting my parents stay in their house without charging them through the nose for it. He apparently really wants the money though, because he pulled me aside after the talk with the lawyer and swore he’d take advantage of the ‘Real Marriage Clause’ bit of the will which basically states that someone will be periodically checking up on me and my husband, as well as our family and friends, to make sure that the marriage isn’t a sham. I think they have trust issues because Uncle John’s first wife only married him for the money. Although why they’re worried that I would run away with the money I don’t know. In any case, that means I can’t just be legally married to someone, we have to convince the world that we’re at least somewhat happily married so my uncle can’t just get me knocked out of the will.”

“…Seriously?”

Blaine sighed. “Unfortunately. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you yesterday. If you want to duck out now, I fully understand. It’s a lot to ask of you.”

Kurt stared at the plate that he’d filled with food in silence for a moment, contemplating all that this meant he would have to sacrifice – dates, honesty with his friends, trying to fall for someone who wasn’t Blaine… After a minute, he looked up and met Blaine’s nervous gaze. “We still only have to be married for a year though, right?”

“Yes, yes, of course. I asked my lawyer and the full inheritance is signed over to me after one year. After that no one can take it away from me, even if we get divorced.”

Kurt smiled ruefully. “Sounds like the perfect anniversary present.”

“You’ll still do it then?” Blaine asked, mouth hanging open slightly in disbelief.

“Yeah…” Kurt nodded. “As long as we can tell my dad - and by extension, Carole – the truth. I can't lie to them about something this big, I can't. Everyone else we can hide it from though. We’ll pull off the best sham of a marriage that these people have ever seen. Just make sure you figure out what ‘having someone check up on us’ entails?"

“Yeah, definitely.” Blaine beamed at him, unable to help himself despite the seriousness of the situation. "Okay, just them then.” Blaine seemed to be fully awake now as he continued. “I was also thinking that because you're doing this for me and my family, I owe you part of my inheritance. Now, I won't be able to get to all of it at once, but-"

"Blaine, no." Kurt interrupted shaking his head. "I didn’t agree to this thinking I’d get money out of it. You aren't paying me to be your husband."

"But Kurt-"

"No. Also, we’re getting a prenup because this is your family’s money. Not mine."

"Okay, what if-” Kurt made a sound like he was about to interrupt but Blaine cut him off. “-No, listen. We're going to have to live together if we want to make this convincing, so while we're married, I'll pay for the apartment and food and college. It's only fair."

"Alright," Kurt conceded. "I just want you to know that if we really were to get married for reasons other than inheritance, the only reason I would ever let things be that imbalanced would be because I'm poor and I wouldn't want us living in a total shoebox because I'm stubborn."

Blaine laughed, "I'm aware. Just- let me do this as a thank you."

"I will."

"Okay... I think the last big thing is a story to tell people."

"Oh, I've got this. Ready?" Kurt looked excitedly over at Blaine as he nodded. "Alright," Kurt sat up straighter, preparing to reveal his idea. "We started secretly dating a few months ago, maybe Halloween? We didn't want to tell anyone because it was such a momentous change for us and we were afraid that other people knowing right away would throw us off. We definitely weren't planning on getting married so fast, but we were drinking one night and called The Foundry just to put our names on the list in case we wanted to get married in the next two years, because it's our dream wedding location. They said they would call us if they had a cancellation. They called us yesterday and said there was an opening. January 28th.  We have three weeks."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yup. I called them this morning and they just had an opening," Kurt grinned at him. "As I was saying, at first we weren't going to take the spot, but then we decided what the hell. We might as well; we're going to end up married anyway."

Blaine stared at Kurt with slack-jawed awe. "How did you even come up with that so quickly?"

Kurt shrugged, biting his lip nervously. "I was thinking about it last night while I couldn't sleep and figured we should have a story and some reasoning behind the sudden marriage. And, well, this pretty much fell right into my lap when I called The Foundry this morning."

"Wow, you are - wow."

Kurt laughed at the stunned look on Blaine's face. "What can I say? I'm the perfect fiancé."

"You can say that again."

Kurt merely smiled, reaching over to his bag and pulling a scrapbook out of it. "I also have this. It's all the details of what I want from a wedding at The Foundry. I know we have to slim it down a bit - that's totally fine. But you should look through it and then we can negotiate it down and add in things that you want."

"Kurt - I can't believe how on board you are with all of this - I know I'm freaking out."

Kurt scoffed. "I'm freaking out a bit too, but I planned Dad and Carole's wedding in a week. I'll freak out about getting married later. Right now I'm too busy with the wedding planning."

"Just so we're clear," Blaine said flipping through the book, "You can pull out of this deal whenever you want - no hard feelings. Also you are hands down the best friend I have ever had."

Kurt gave him a look. "Blaine, I'm not going to back out. I will gladly bear the mantel of your best friend ever though."

"Okay, okay" Blaine conceded, holding his hands up in defeat. "I believe you. Now. Wedding planning first or should we call people?"

"Let's wedding plan for a bit. Then call. Also, I still expect a proposal even if our story doesn't necessitate one. Just so you know."

"I know," Blaine grinned. "Don't you worry one bit. I am going to give you the proposal of a lifetime, Hummel."

* * *

An hour later they called Burt.

"Hey bud."

"…Hi Dad.”

"What's up?

"I- Blaine and I have something to tell you."

"The two of you start dating?"

"What? No!" Kurt squeaked, blushing. Blaine laughed nervously as Kurt put the phone on speaker.

"Well, what is it then?" Burt asked, perplexed. “You sound nervous about something. Not to mention ya usually don't call me this early."

"We- you know what? You tell him, Blaine." Kurt shoved the phone closer to Blaine, who suddenly stopped laughing and gulped nervously.

"I- okay. Hi Mr. Hummel, sir."

"Okay, I don't know why you're suddenly going all formal on me but I know you can't be telling me one of you is pregnant. So what is it, kid?"

"Um. Well. Okay. See. You remember how my grandparents passed away a month ago?"

"...Yes?"

"Okay, well, I met with the lawyers yesterday and apparently I'm the sole inheritor."

"Really now?" Burt asked in surprise. He paused. "What's this got to do with needing to call me though?"

Blaine was silent as he stared at the phone as though it was going to kill him. "Please can you be the one to tell him Kurt? He's less likely to kill you."

Kurt glared. "It's your family."

"But I-"

"Will someone just spit it out already?" Burt's voice growled exasperatedly through the phone at them.

Blaine and Kurt sat in silence as they tried to stare the other into telling. After a minute of stalemate and another annoyed plea from Burt, Blaine finally spoke.

"The stipulation for me to inherit is that I have to be married within a month, for at least a year. I don't know why they did that, but that's what the deal is. And I have to do it because my parents technically live in a house that's part of my inheritance and it'll be a whole legal minefield if I don't."

"Okay..." Burt intoned, sounding as though he was beginning to see where this was going.

"So I umm..." Blaine rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "KurtandIaregettingmarried," he blurted out.

"What was that, kid?"

"I- Kurt agreed to marry me. Just for the year so I can get the money and I'm going to pay all the rent on our apartment and pay for food and-"

Kurt rubbed Blaine's shoulder gently to make him stop babbling.

"I don't even know where to begin..." Burt sighed tiredly into the phone. "Are you sure this is necessary? Aren't there other solutions? You know, solutions where you don’t get married?"

Kurt glanced over at Blaine. "There aren't, and we're doing this dad. I wasn't asking your opinion."

Burt snorted. "I feel like I just stepped into a crazy wormhole." Kurt listened as his dad shuffled some papers around. He may not need his permission, but Kurt certainly wanted some sort of approval. "Do you kids realize what you're getting yourselves into with this?" he finally asked, "I know you don't need my permission, but even if it's not a real marriage it's going to be difficult. Unless – do you guys have to make this out to be a real marriage, or do you just need the license?”

“Well,” Blaine coughed a little to clear his throat. “We kind of have to actually make everyone believe we’re married. My Uncle John gets the inheritance if I don’t, and he’s threatening to ensure that it’s not just a sham marriage. If he gets proof that it’s a sham before the year is up, he has legal grounds to revoke my inheritance rights.”

“Okay… so you guys are committing to lying to all of your friends while pretending to be married for a year?”

“Umm, yes?” Blaine said uncertainly. If anyone could make him feel really bad about this, it was going to be Burt.

Burt sighed. “You kids think about how you’ll be stuck living together or how you’ll be able to navigate any potential dates with the fact that technically you’re married and can’t have extramarital affairs without fear of being caught? Or how hurt your friends might be when they find out – and they will find out – that you lied to them about this?”

"Dad," Kurt sighed while Blaine frowned guiltily at the phone. "We've talked about a lot of the potential issues. We know there'll be road bumps but - Blaine needs to marry someone and I'd rather him have a sham marriage with me than someone else who might end up trying to use him for something."

"I'd rather that, too, but... I just want you boys to be conscious of the fact that this isn't going to be easy... Can you take me off speakerphone, Kurt?"

Kurt's stomach knotted. "Sure," he picked up the phone, meeting Blaine's worried eyes. "I'm gonna take this in the guest room..."

Blaine nodded, and Kurt took his dad off speaker, stepping into the other room and closing the door behind him. "What's up?" he said, trying to sound casual.

"Kurt," Burt admonished.

"Dad," Kurt tried to joke back. There was a sigh. "Okay, fine, yes. I know that logically this is a terrible idea, but it's Blaine."

"This whole thing is a terrible idea, kid. In some ways it being Blaine of all people makes it worse.” Kurt pressed the phone to his ear as his dad breathed quietly on the other end, waiting for him to continue. “You might think I'm oblivious, but I know how you feel about him."

"Well of course," Kurt tried to play it off. "He's my best-"

"Kurt," he interrupted sternly. "We both know that's not what I'm talking about."

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut, flopping down on the futon in the corner. "I know. I'm just..." he took a breath. "I've thought about this a lot, Dad. I know it seems stupid and impulsive and- Every time I come up with a reason... It's Blaine, Dad. It's not like my feelings are suddenly going to change. God knows I've willed them to over the years."

Burt sighed. "And you're not expecting anything out of it relationship-wise? I don't want to see you get hurt."

"No," Kurt answered, tamping down on the hopeful voice in his head that said yes.

There was silence on the other end of the line before his dad spoke again, this time with a little less concern, and a lot more begrudged resignation. "Do you guys have a date for the wedding figured out?"

"Yeah" Kurt perked up excitedly, "January 28th at the Foundry..."

* * *

When Kurt got off the phone with his dad, they decided that they should tell Rachel, Santana, and Finn about their wedding next, which was made easier by the fact that Finn was visiting for the week. All they needed to do was take a trip over to Kurt’s loft.

Kurt halted outside the apartment, key poised to open the lock. He turned to Blaine. "We should probably act more couple-y to make this more believable."

Blaine's hand automatically shot into his empty one, tangling their fingers together and squeezing gently. "We can do this."

"Yeah, yeah okay. We've got this." Kurt let them into the apartment, yelling out for Santana, Finn, and Rachel to join them in the living room because he had news to share.

“What do you want, Hummel?” Santana asked in a bored tone, entering the room. “I have-” her eyes zeroed in on their clasped hands. “Holy shit, did you two finally do it?”

Blaine made a confused noise while Kurt just rolled his eyes. “I did say I have news.”

Rachel and Finn entered the room. “What’s going on?” Rachel glanced between the three of them.

“Kurt and Blaine finally got their shit together.”

“Kurt and- what?” Confusion colored Rachel’s voice.

“Wait, are you two dating?” Finn asked, noticing their hands.

“So it would seem,” Santana smirked.

“Kurt!” Rachel bounced over to hug him, while he cringed slightly. In an attempt to ward off any congratulations that might hint at his crush, he interrupted her.

“That’s not even the biggest part of our news!”

“What is then?”

“We’re getting married!” Kurt announced as Blaine squeezed his hand.

Everyone gaped at them. As the silence grew, Kurt shifted awkwardly, not sure what it meant. Understandably they were all shocked, but Finn and Rachel almost looked a little hurt.

“How the hell did that happen?” Santana finally asked.

As soon as they finished telling everyone how they’d “gotten together” - which took longer because of Rachel's questions and the indignant looks on the three of their faces that they had no idea this was going on - Santana smirked. She glanced from Kurt to Blaine and then to the way they were sitting on the sofa, hands clasped between them on Blaine's leg. "I’ve been wondering when you two would figure it out."

"What?" Blaine blinked at her, confusedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kurt asked.

"Oh come on, the two of you have been in love with each other for ages. You've practically been a married couple since the day you met. It's good to hear that you'll finally be making it official soon. We all knew this day would come sooner or later."

Finn, who looked hurt that Kurt hadn't informed him of this development in his life sooner, finally spoke up. "So you weren't okay with Rachel and me wanting to get married senior year but you're just up and marrying Blaine at twenty one after dating for less than three months?"

"My problem with you and Rachel getting married was that we were in high school and the two of you were going into it for the wrong reasons. You were scared of the future and wanted an insurance policy. Blaine and I aren't getting married because we're afraid of losing each other and not having anything else going for us, we're getting married because we love each other and we figure it'll happen sooner or later, so why not now when we have the ability to rent out our dream wedding spot?"

"Dibs on maid of honor," Rachel suddenly shouted, jumping out of her seat and running over to Kurt excitedly. "I can forgive you for not telling me about this sooner, but I'll be happier about it if I have a sparkly dress that I get to wear while performing the Maid of Honor duties."

"Bitch please," Santana interrupted. "I'm going to be Hummel's Maid of Honor. He needs someone who can kick Anderson's ass if he tries to run away at the last second."

Blaine’s mouth dropped open in surprise as Santana and Rachel started yelling at each other. “Excu-?” Kurt sighed, squeezing Blaine's hand lightly, cutting him off, before he stood up.

"Hey!” Kurt yelled. “Ladies. Neither of you is going to be my maid of honor!”

"Excuse me?" Rachel whorled around to glare harshly at him.

"What's this now?" Santana asked, hands on her hips.

"Thank you for your attention." Kurt smiled at both of them as he sat back down next to Blaine. "There won't be a maid of honor. If you both behave yourselves you can be bridesmaids or whatever you would call it for a groom, but I'm having a best man instead. That is," Kurt focused nervously on Finn, "If you would like to be my best man, Finn."

"Wait, seriously?" Finn asked, a smile crossing his face.

"Yeah," Kurt laughed. "You're my brother, so that honor should fall to you."

"I would love that, man. Thank you." Finn got up to hug Kurt, as Rachel and Santana had a whispered battle over who would have been Maid of Honor had Finn not been in the picture.

After a while everyone settled down and they ordered pizza, throwing in a movie to fill the silence as they ate. The movie wasn't entirely captivating however, and they quickly fell back into conversation.

"You know it's okay if you guys kiss in front of us now, right?" Finn asked. "Your secret’s out."

"Oh." Kurt blushed, shooting a glance at Blaine.

"Ah- yeah, totally hadn't thought about that." Blaine rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, tightening his grip on Kurt with his other arm. "We'll keep that in mind.” Finn continued to stare at them as though waiting for them to kiss. “We're not just going to kiss on command, Finn," Blaine added as Finn continued to stare at them as though waiting for them to kiss.

"Oh- right. Sorry." He focused back on the TV once more and the silence remained unbroken for a while until-

"You never told us how you started dating. I have bets placed on this shit so I need to know."

"Um." Blaine gulped nervously, shifting uncomfortably next to Kurt.

"What, did all the sexual tension just become too much for the two of you all of the sudden and you just started going at it?"

"No!" Kurt squeaked out.

"Alright, let's hear it then." Santana demanded.

"Fine. You tell them, Blaine."

"What?!" Blaine yelped indignantly. "I have to tell them?"

"Ooo, now I really want to know." Santana said, leaning closer to them while shoving popcorn in her mouth.

"Go ahead sweetie, just tell them. Santana isn't going to stop asking until she knows."

With a final glare at Kurt, Blaine focused his attention on Santana, elbowing Kurt when he noticed the smirk on his face. "We, umm. We-"

"Spit it out, Warbler."

"Kuuurt," Blaine whined, looking at him pleadingly.

"What?" he asked innocently. "It's your fault we started this whole thing. I think you should tell it."

"I hate you." Blaine huffed, removing his arm from where it was wrapped around Kurt in favor of crossing his arms over his chest. "Alright." He quickly wracked his brain to come up with something. They had totally not prepared for this question. Fuck. "Okay, so the day after Halloween? When Kurt came over to my place to rehearse, and then he fell asleep at my place and you all freaked out?"

Three heads nodded in memory of the day while Kurt tried to look as though he knew where this was going.

"Well, we both fell asleep on the couch because we were up watching a movie after, and when I woke up in the morning- well." Blaine turned to smile adoringly at Kurt while tamping down on the sly smirk that was trying to escape his lips, uncrossing his arms to grab Kurt's hand once more. "The sunlight was on his face at just the right angle and he looked so beautiful that when his eyes opened a moment later I couldn't help but kiss him."

Blaine kissed Kurt's head lightly before Santana spoke up. "Okay, see I was expecting something juicier with all that avoidance you did a minute ago."

Kurt laughed lightly at her, trying not to blush from the intensity of Blaine’s gaze. "Oh, the story does get juicier than that. You're just not going to hear about it. It's for Blaine and I to know and everyone else to never find out."

“Well, at least this all explains the two of you going out for dinner on New Year’s Eve. Glad to know it wasn’t yet another crazy platonic date.” Kurt wasn’t sure whether he should be offended by this or if he should take Santana’s worry about their relationship as a compliment, so he merely smiled at her and focused back on the movie.

 


	2. The Proposal Take Two

They finally went back to Blaine's apartment after spending four hours at Kurt's place. Blaine immediately fell face first onto the couch as Kurt headed to the kitchen to grab a drink.

"I can't believe you made me come up with a story of how we got together," Kurt heard Blaine grumble angrily into his pillow.

He laughed gleefully at this. "I'm just glad it didn't backfire. After Santana said that she was expecting something juicier I realized that you probably could have very easily gotten revenge on me for making you do that." He walked back into the living room and lifted Blaine's legs up so he could join him on the couch.

Blaine shifted onto his back and looked up at Kurt with his legs propped up across his lap. "I couldn't do that to you. You're doing me a huge favor. I think the least I could do is not tell Santana that we got together after you practically jumped me when I came out of the shower one day."

"Blaine!" Kurt squeaked, smacking him with a pillow while looking completely scandalized and blushing a bright pink.

"What?" Blaine asked clearly trying to look innocent. "Oo! Or I could have gone with-"

"Nope!" Kurt said loudly, pushing a pillow to Blaine's face, muffling the sound of his voice.

"Mmfph."

"No more talking for you. Not until you can behave."

Blaine finally batted the pillow away, laughing. "Okay, okay, fine. I didn't realize you were so embarrassed about jum-"

Kurt cut him off, pointing a finger at him threateningly. "I will make you sleep on the couch, mister."

Blaine stopped talking and merely grinned happily over at him. "I'm really glad you're my best friend, Kurt."

Kurt wanted to ignore him, he really did, but he couldn't help smiling back at Blaine. "Me too. Even if that does mean being your soon-to-be husband. I'm still waiting for that official proposal by the way. Can’t move in until I have a ring on my finger."

"I'll get to it," Blaine grumbled. "I haven't exactly had any time away from you since you agreed to this."

"Whatever you say...." Kurt teased. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Kurt decided it was time to get back to business. "Do you mind if I stay for dinner? We could order in and then talk over more details and wedding plans. Speaking of - we should probably send out invitations in the next few days seeing as how there are only three weeks until the wedding."

"Definitely. We should probably send out invites via email as well just to give people a heads up – and so we can get some RSVPs back before the day of the actual wedding. Before we do that though, want to order Chinese? I should probably call my parents and let them know what's happening... I told them I would give them a call yesterday but I never did, because, well," Blaine gestured aimlessly, "you know."

Kurt laughed and raised an eyebrow. "You were too busy suggesting we have a platonic marriage?"

"Yes, that." Blaine stuck his tongue out at Kurt for a moment. He paused. "Actually, you were too busy suggesting it. I just happened to agree." Kurt rolled his eyes as Blaine stood up looking far too pleased with himself. "Alright, calling them now. You order the food? I'll have my usual."

Blaine walked off to his bedroom, closing the door most of the way behind him while Kurt dialed the Chinese place down the street. Kurt ordered their food and then settled back on the couch. As he did so, he pulled out his phone to add to his list of thoughts for the wedding, thinking about Blaine and everything doing this would entail.

Kurt wouldn't say that he's been hopelessly _in love_ with Blaine since they met, but he has had romantic feelings for him basically since the moment they first made eye contact. It’s a little bit sad that part of him has been pining for Blaine so long. When it became clear that first year at Dalton that Blaine wasn't going to reciprocate those feelings for the time being, however, Kurt had moved on. Kind of. His feelings for Blaine were still there, but he would indulge in other crushes that he had from time to time. He liked to think that he was taking the Ginny Weasley approach and dating other people until Blaine finally saw sense.

When he met Chandler in the spring of his senior year of high school, the two of them had gone on a few dates. Kurt had eventually called it off right before graduation, but they still remained friends. There hadn't really been any sort of spark, but he had definitely enjoyed hanging out with Chandler from time to time. It was an added bonus that, upon moving to New York, he already had a friend who wasn’t Rachel.

His freshman year of college had led him to Adam. Adam was nice and British and they got along well. They'd dated for six and a half months before Adam had graduated and they'd both decided that there was something about their relationship that just wasn't going to allow them to work in the long run. Adam seemed inclined to blame Blaine, because apparently in the days since Blaine had gotten accepted to NYADA, their conversations had slowly begun to revolve around him moving to New York, but Kurt shrugged it off because who wouldn't be excited about their best friend moving to the same city as them? (And so what if he had not entirely platonic feelings for his best friend? It wasn’t as though he had ever acted on them).

After that, Kurt had been on a few dates here or there, but nothing serious. He somehow just couldn't bring himself to care about dating when he could spend time with Blaine instead.

It did leave him in a tenuous position as far as this marriage scheme was concerned though. He didn't care one bit about any potential dates he would be missing out on (because, seriously, no guy had been able to hold a candle to Blaine, and they hadn't ever dated). He was mostly just worried about any potential strain it would put on their friendship as well as how he would contain his feelings while living with Blaine. Acting all couple-y in front of people (and that would probably have to include the occasional kiss -- shit) might end up being an issue. He knew they could go through the motions no problem it was just.... Kurt was worried that it would bleed into their private time and he would begin acting like that with Blaine when they were alone and he'd kiss him and then, wow, things would be awkward. But he could do this. He was a Hummel and Hummels helped out friends in need. Even if it called for marrying your best friend who you were secretly, basically, pretty much helplessly in love with.

He also wasn’t entirely sure that Blaine had thought this whole thing through as far as their pretending-to-be-a-couple charade went. Sure, Blaine was a tactile person to begin with, but this would be different. And Blaine had never really had a boyfriend. There had been Sebastian while he was at Dalton, who Blaine had thought he was dating, but when Blaine had called Sebastian his boyfriend, Sebastian had laughed. After that, Blaine had declared that he wasn’t interested in sex just for the sake of having sex. He was now only going to sleep with people after they’d made it clear they were boyfriends. Kurt had kind of expected that to change when Blaine got to New York, but in all of their times going to clubs together, he’d done nothing more scandalous than make out with a few guys and dance. So. Nothing scandalous really. Sex aside, Kurt wasn’t sure if Blaine knew exactly what he was getting himself into, but he was quite the actor so he would probably get the hang of it pretty fast.

Blaine's raised voice cut through his thoughts. " _Dad_ , don't be ridiculous. Kurt isn't using me for the money- I know. I know. I know it's a big thing to commit to- yes. Uh huh." There was a longer pause and then Kurt heard Blaine start talking again, voice a forced calm. "I promised him that I would pay rent and the grocery bills for a year as well as the rest of his tuition. I barely got him to agree to let me do _that_. He's not trying to use this marriage thing for money. In fact, I wanted to give him more. I owe him so much more than that. And he’s the one who decided we need to get a prenup." Kurt heard Blaine flop onto his bed as he listened to whatever his dad was telling him. "Dad, I... I know you could get along without my help, I just- I really want to do this for you two because I _can_ and you shouldn't both have to work for the rest of your lives because I didn't inherit the money that’s rightfully mine."

Kurt stared at the door in shock for a moment. Blaine hadn't always had the best relationship with his parents - especially in middle school and high school. But Blaine had told him that it was getting better. And it really must have been, because Blaine's parents were actually trying to persuade him to _not_ get married just because of them (ignoring the part where they had insinuated that Kurt was trying to use Blaine, it was oddly nice of them).

"Dad, he's my best friend. Obviously I love him. We'll- it'll work, okay? I'm doing this, so stop trying to talk me out of it." Seemingly Mr. Anderson relented because a few minutes later Blaine said goodbye and hung up, emerging from his bedroom a moment later.

When Blaine walked back into the room Kurt briefly pondered whether or not he should pretend to have no idea how the call with his parents went. Before he made a conscious decision one way or the other, however, words started to spill out of his mouth. "So you decided to tell your parents the truth then? How'd it go?"

"It went..." Blaine sunk tiredly down onto the couch next to Kurt. "It went okay. I mean- I didn't intend on telling them the truth at first but then I - I think they suspected something was up. They were understandably shocked when I told them I was going to get married to you three weeks from now, especially with the whole inheritance thing going on. At first they thought that you had heard about the money or something and were trying to get it from me, so I ended up spilling the truth because there was no other way to convince them."

Kurt reached over and squeezed his hand briefly before letting go. "I get it. That's why I told my dad the truth. I just hope...  I don't want your parents hating me because they think I'm a gold digger."

"They don't think you're a _gold digge_ r, Kurt,” Blaine scoffed. “They're just worried, and more willing to aim their doubt and concerns at a person they barely know than at me. I guess I have a tendency to be too trusting or something," he teased, and Kurt could tell he was thinking about Sebastian.

"Okay, I just. You don't owe me anything, you know. Don't deny it," Kurt held up a hand when Blaine started to insist otherwise. "I heard you telling your dad that you owed me for this, but I hope you realize that I'm doing this because you're _Blaine_. You're my best friend and you need my help. Besides," he shrugged, "It's not as though I've really had much luck in the boyfriend department so far. It can't hurt to give the whole ‘having a husband’ thing a go."

"Alright, alright. I do still owe you though. I'll just think of it as owing you favors instead because, seriously Kurt, you can't tell me that what you're doing for me isn't a big deal. Because it is. But I'll do my best not to let it make the playing field uneven between us or whatever."

"That's all I'm asking. Now... wedding invitations? You do the emails, I’ll make a template for the physical ones?"

* * *

The next morning found Kurt perched on Blaine’s bed as Blaine slept. Two cups of coffee were sitting on the nightstand, and his laptop was open to the friend list on his Facebook page.

“What’re you doing?” Blaine asked groggily. Kurt jumped in surprise, but Blaine was too sleepy to notice, eyes already zeroing in on the coffee.

Kurt noticed his focus and laughed before picking up Blaine’s drink. “The shades in your room do _not_ block out the light, so I made coffee and started working on our guest list. Here sleepyhead,” he handed Blaine a mug after he got himself sat up against his pillows.

Blaine pouted into his coffee. “Not a sleepyhead. Just tired.” Kurt shook his head fondly as he continued working.

Finally, after Blaine returned from a trip to the bathroom, Kurt began to explain what he had been doing. “Seeing as how we finished our wedding invitation template last night, I was thinking we should finalize the guest list. I’m not sure how many people we want to invite, but I figured a good place to start would be determining who has to come and who we want to be there beyond that. Facebook seemed like the ideal means of making sure we don’t forget any of our friends."

"Alright," Blaine flopped down on the bed next to Kurt before sliding closer to him. "Who've we got so far?"

Kurt read off a list of people that included the New Directions, the Warblers and both of their New York friends. "I don't think I forgot anyone... we just need to figure out who we're each inviting from our families and then we should be all set!"

"How many people are we allowed to invite to the Foundry?"

"They cap it at 200, but with money and such I think we should aim to invite 100 at most. That way we can still add people if we want to without worrying about not being able to fit everyone if we do. Plus, we won’t have to spend a fortune on catering because we decided to invite everyone we’ve ever talked to," Blaine nodded in agreement.

"Pass the computer over and I'll type up the names of the family that I should invite?"

Kurt handed the laptop over, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and getting up. “Give me a shout when you’re done? I’m going to make some breakfast.”

* * *

They ordered their invitations the next day and had them in the mail to their guests two days after that. Of course, before most of them had even hit the mail, responses from their friends and family had already started coming in. It had resulted in a fair number of calls from incredulous relatives and way too many responses from their friends that were variations of “About time! Count me in.” It was honestly astonishing how many people had just accepted it as something that had been a long time coming.

In the meantime, Kurt had been camped out in Blaine’s apartment organizing all the wedding details while Blaine had spent the week secretly plotting the proposal. It involved a lot of emailing back and forth with a few of the Warblers, some discreet engagement ring and wedding ring shopping, and a phone call to Rachel while Kurt was in class. A week and a few secret meet ups with his friends later, and Blaine was ready to propose. He was also ready to hit the next person who laughed at him for making such a big deal out of a proposal for a marriage that Kurt had already agreed to. Which tended to lead to mentions of the _When I Get You Alone_ debacle, and Blaine really did not want to think about that. Especially not right now.

* * *

On Saturday, Kurt found himself being pulled through Times Square by Rachel, who had insisted they go look at the new billboards. It was rather odd because all Rachel had wanted to talk about these past few weeks was the wedding and how she was getting to reprise her role as Maria in West Side Story at NYADA, but now she suddenly couldn’t stop talking about the billboards – which Kurt was pretty sure hadn’t changed because there were no new shows opening. As he was mulling this over, he suddenly heard a shout of “There he is!” and looked up to see a blond man in a suit turn and run towards the giant set of red stairs. As he looked around, slightly confused, Rachel tugged him forward and he heard an a capella group start singing. As the two of them reached the foot of the stairs, the singing grew louder and Kurt realized that those suits – uniforms really – were familiar looking, as were the people wearing them.

Suddenly, the lyrics kicked in and he locked eyes with Blaine as he spun out to face the crowd, a wild grin on his face.

_Forever can never be long enough for me_

_To feel like I've had long enough with you_

For once, Blaine didn’t even pretend that he was singing for anyone else. He slowly descended the stairs as he sang, heading directly for Kurt, eyes never straying from him. For someone who knew Kurt was going to say yes, he looked nervous about making such a huge gesture.

_Forget the world now we won't let them see_

_But there's one thing left to do_

Kurt struggled to place the song as he watched Blaine sing, wide eyed and smiling. As he was listening though he felt a familiar flutter in his stomach.

_Now that the weight has lifted_

_Love has surely shifted my way_

As Blaine grinned at him, slightly nervous behind his brave lead singer persona, the song clicked into place in Kurt’s mind and he gasped. Blaine would choose this song for a proposal.

_Marry Me_

_Today and every day_

As Blaine sang the chorus, the Warblers’ closest to Kurt got down on one knee to sing.

_Marry Me_

_If I ever get the nerve to say "Hello" in this café_

Blaine gestured as one of the Warblers held out a coffee cup from the Lima Bean. Kurt accepted it and took a sip out of curiosity. Of course Blaine got him a non-fat mocha. He grinned down at it, smoothing his finger over the word Kurt written smoothly on the cup. Why couldn’t this all be a real proposal meant for the rest of their lives?

_Say you will_

"Hey!" Someone shouted.

The Warblers kept singing and dancing, but Kurt was sufficiently distracted by a second shout, closer this time.

"Yo! Boys in the blazers," the man called, coming up next to them. "You can't be here!"

The boys stumbled to a halt, staring at him. Blaine stepped forward, showman face firmly in place now. "I'm sorry, what seems to be the problem sir?"

"We're filming an episode of _Sing!_ over there," he gestured angrily across the street. "We can't have you in the background."

Blaine raised an eyebrow at the man while Kurt got on his tip toes, trying to spot the cast across the street. "You're interrupting my _proposal_ for this?"

"Yes," he nodded firmly.

Kurt turned his attention back to the man. "Fine. We're done, you can leave now."

"Good." The man nodded to all of them before walking away.

Kurt sighed. "He's just lucky that yo-" Kurt sucked in a breath as his eyes landed on Blaine, who, to his immense surprise, was laughing.

"Much like most of our relationship," he grinned, "this apparently isn't going to go to plan, but I'm willing to improvise." Blaine pulled a ring box out of his jacket pocket, dropping to one knee at Kurt's feet.  “Kurt Hummel, I know this has all happened rather quickly, but I want you in my life, as my husband and my best friend. Will you marry me?”

Kurt stared down at Blaine for a moment, taking in the slightly nervous expression gracing his face. Apparently this whole charade wasn’t a complete breeze for him either. “Yes, yes I will,” he replied with a grin. No matter what doubts he had because he really wished this were for-the-rest-of-our-lives real, there was no way he could say no to Blaine. "Let's just hope this wasn't some bad omen we should be paying attention to."

Blaine laughed before he stood up, fumbling to slip the ring on Kurt’s finger. That was when the cheering of their friends and a few tourists turned into chanting for them to kiss. “I, umm-” Blaine pulled him into a hug before shifting onto his tiptoes to whisper in Kurt’s ear, “Is it alright if I kiss you? Because they all seem to be expecting it.”

Kurt suppressed a shiver as Blaine’s warm breath tickled his ear. He hesitated for a moment, he wanted to kiss Blaine but it would be their first ever kiss and Kurt didn’t want it to ruin everything. On the other hand, it was just a kiss and they were in public so it wasn’t as though he was going to get carried away. He took a deep breath and then – “yes, yes you can kiss me. Just keep it PG – I’ve seen you get handsy when you kiss.”

Blaine huffed out a laugh. “Only when I’m drunk,” he replied, and Kurt could practically hear the eye roll as he said it. But then Blaine was pulling back and looking him in the eyes and suddenly the moment became overwhelmingly real and Blaine was kissing him. It wasn’t a very long kiss, and it wasn’t overly passionate, but it happened and it was a moment that Kurt had been dreaming about since the day he met Blaine. It surpassed all of his expectations. Well, all of his expectations if you ignored the prerequisite of Blaine confessing his love for real.

They both laughed for a moment after pulling away. They hugged once more and then Kurt felt a crush of people surrounding them. He panicked for a moment, worried that someone had decided all of New York City should hug them, before realizing that it was Rachel and the Warblers.

“Congrats you guys!”

“Thank god you said yes, otherwise this whole thing would have been awkward.”

"I can't believe that jerk almost ruined it!"

“I still don’t understand why Blaine had to propose when you guys already have a _wedding_ planned.”

“I told you, Jon,” Blaine said, looking behind Kurt, “Kurt deserves a real proposal, and since it couldn’t wait until after the wedding it had to be done now. Just because we played around a bit with the order that we did things doesn’t mean I didn’t want to try to ensure we had an excellent proposal story. Which…” he glanced across the street, “Kind of got ruined.”

“Dude,” Thad grumbled. “As much as I love this group hug thing going on, can we go celebrate somewhere indoors instead? I’m freezing my ass off. And I am too old to be wearing a prep school uniform.”

“Alright, alright, let’s head over to Dalton’s. I made sure they would be open and ready for a big group.”

“Dalton’s?” Trent asked.

“Yeah, it’s a Bar and Grill that Blaine and I found after rushing a show down at The Al Hirschfield Theater last year,” Kurt chimed in.

“No wonder you guys decided to go to school here. I should try to get the owner to put a chain on the Tuft’s campus,” Trent sighed, speeding up to walk next to Kurt. “So besides you and Blaine _finally_ getting together, how’ve you been? I feel like we never catch up.”

* * *

The walk to Dalton’s took about ten minutes, and before they knew it they were entering the restaurant, and being seated immediately. Kurt and Blaine ended up next to each other at the far end of one of the tables their group was at. It allowed them to talk with some privacy, but had the unfortunate side effect of keeping them from catching up with the people at the other end.

Once they ordered their drinks, Blaine turned to talk to Kurt. “So, did that proposal successfully blow your mind?” Kurt raised an eyebrow. “If you ignore that it got interrupted?”

“Honestly, I’m just glad there wasn’t any talk of sex toys in your serenade,” Kurt managed to get out before he had to duck behind his menu to hide his laughter.

“Hey, that was a wonderful performance and you know it,” Blaine said, trying to look offended.

“Fine. Your song choice was definitely more appropriate this time around and I’m…” Kurt trailed off, his expression softening as he met Blaine’s eyes. “I wasn’t expecting you to go all out for your proposal like that. I’m rather pleased that I got my dream of a big public proposal fulfilled, because there is _no_ way I’d want that for a real proposal. I would probably panic and explode from the pressure of all those people watching such a personal moment.”

“But it was okay this time?” Blaine asked, looking concerned.

Kurt reached out and grasped his hand in comfort. “You successfully blew my mind this time. If we hadn’t-” Kurt broke off, looking around anxiously to see if anyone was listening in before he lowered his voice. “If this marriage weren’t happening the way it is, I would have had – well, not a problem with it exactly, because a proposal is a proposal – but I would have been overwhelmed. Does that make sense?”

“I think so,” Blaine replied, twining their fingers together and rubbing circles on Kurt’s hand absentmindedly. “If-”

“Hey love birds!” Jeff called down the table, immediately forcing them to refocus their attention. “When do we get to have the bachelor party? And will I be invited to both?”

Well crap. That was one of the things that they hadn’t actually talked about. In all honesty, Kurt had totally forgotten that it was traditional to have a bachelor party because he didn’t really care to have one, and Finn probably wouldn’t want to plan it (and Santana and Rachel were definitely not allowed to do it instead).

He glanced over at Blaine questioningly, to find him staring back at him, mouth hanging open slightly. Apparently he’d forgotten about the bachelor parties as well.

“Wait. Don’t tell me that you two weren’t planning on having them? No. I have been looking forward to this day for years!”

“Years, Jeff? Really? We’ve been dating for like, a couple of months.” Blaine said, rolling his eyes at Jeff.

“Yes, years. We all knew this day would come eventually. And lucky for me, it came when I have no boyfriend or girlfriend to worry about! Now please assure me that there will be a bachelor party,” Jeff glared at them.

“Umm, we-” Blaine shot a glance at Kurt before he continued. “We should talk about it, but Cooper would be the one in charge of planning a party so I can’t guarantee you anything.”

“I’m not making Finn plan one and-”

“I could plan it, Kurt!” Rachel interrupted, sounding positively gleeful about the idea of it.

“No!” Kurt practically yelled in response. “No. No one else is planning a party for me because I don’t particularly want one, and I’m not letting Finn be coerced into it. And god only knows what atrocities you and Santana would cook up.”

“Hey,” Rachel pouted, looking insulted, “If I planned it, it would be fabulous.”

“No. It would be- no.”

“Well, I’m sure Finn could-”

“Rachel, even if Finn did manage to pull it off, he’d probably decide he should hire a stripper just to make sure I knew he was chill with it or whatever. And if that happened, I think I would be scarred for life because the last thing I want is Finn having anything to do with - or seeing, hell, even knowing about - me getting a lap dance.”

“Fine.” Rachel folded her arms over her chest petulantly. “No party then.”

“Did I mention that you get to sing a song or two at our wedding?” Kurt asked tentatively, hating himself for his need to make her happy while also hating her a bit for making this about her.

“Really?” Unsurprisingly, she perked up immediately. “Oh! I’m so excited, I could sing-”

Luckily, the beginning of Rachel’s planning was cut off by Jeff trying to steer the conversation back around to bachelor party talk.

“Okay, so apparently Kurt’s not having a party, but Blaine, man, you have to have one.”

“I’m going to regret saying this, but talk to Cooper about it. He’s my best man, he’s supposedly in charge of that stuff. Just – don’t let him try to recreate _The Hangover_.”

* * *

“So when’re you moving in?” Blaine asked a few hours later as they made their way back to his apartment.

“Two days from now maybe? It shouldn’t take all that long to pack my stuff, and Rachel and Santana already know that I’m moving out soon. What’re we doing about sleeping arrangements?”

“Oh! I was going to tell you. I cleaned out the spare room after you went home – I’ve been meaning to do it for a while now – and I was thinking that you could just bring your bed over and we’d set it up in there. We’ll tell people it’s the guest room, but you’ll sleep there if that’s okay. I figure that way we’ll both be able to have our own space – plus this way we don’t have to cram both of our clothes into my tiny closet.”

“Anything to protect me from your cuddle whore ways or having to sleep on the couch.”

“Hey,” Blaine pressed a hand to his chest looking insulted. “You love my cuddle whore ways. You’d probably push me out of the bed if you didn’t. Or just insist one of us sleep on the couch whenever we crash at each other’s places.”

Kurt giggled. “Alright, fine I probably would. You caught me.”

There was silence for the next block or so as they walked before Kurt caught sight of the ring that now rested on his finger. “You did an awesome job picking out my ring by the way.” He wiggled it around a little on his finger. The swirl of the silver met at the top where it held a blue gem. He’d been a bit surprised when he saw that the ring didn’t hold a diamond, but the blue was _beautiful_. “What stone is this anyways?”

“Paraiba Tourmaline,” Blaine recited. “I was going to go with a diamond initially, but when I was looking around I spotted that stone and it just… seemed perfect. It matches your eyes,” he said, smiling shyly over at Kurt.

“Well I love it. And I’m looking forward to showing people at work, because most of them seem to think I’m trying to pull an elaborate joke on them with the wedding invitation. They think the email is a prank. I’m pretty sure some of them are going to think I’m taking the joke too far when the physical copy shows up.”

“Clearly I need to send you flowers or something at work to solidify the sincerity of this soon-to-be marriage. I can’t have the competition not buying that you’re taken.”

Kurt snorted, shaking his head at Blaine. “The competition? Really?”

“What?” Blaine asked. “I hear the people at Vogue dress well, and I seem to remember you going on and on about how amazing Chase is and how cute his smile was.”

“That was one time,” Kurt said, blushing. “And I was drunk. And in desperate need of a boyfriend.”

“Whatever you say, Kurt…” Kurt shoved Blaine to the side, laughing as they entered the building. His best friend was obnoxious.

“Whatever. I should probably spend at least the next three hours over here before I go home and work on packing.”

“Not that I mind, but why at least three hours?”

“Blaine. We just got back from you pulling off a giant proposal. Even if we were already engaged, I’m pretty sure that Santana and Rachel expect us to be over here having celebratory sex for a while.”

“Oh- right.” Blaine’s cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink. “We can continue wedding planning then? We still have to iron out our menu and our list of approved music. We never got around to that last night.”

“No persuading me that we can take a break and watch _just one_ episode of _Treme_ this time. We’re focusing.”

 


	3. Moving

It only took three trips between the five of them (Santana, Rachel, and Kurt’s friend Elliott were helping) to move Kurt out of his loft and into Blaine's apartment. The speed of it was basically the only upside to being a poor college student; for as many clothes as he had, there weren't many bulky possessions that he had to take (just his mattress and bed frame which was quite the task). Once everything was sitting in Blaine's apartment - their apartment now - Elliott, Santana, and Rachel went home while Kurt flopped down on the couch and Blaine collapsed on the floor.  They both laid there in silence for a moment before Blaine groaned from the floor, “We need pizza and water like ten minutes ago.”

"You call. Too many stairs. Why's your apartment on the tenth floor? Why'd the elevator break?"

"I don't know," Blaine grunted. "Never leaving again." Kurt heard Blaine shifting around on the floor but couldn’t bother to open his eyes to see what Blaine was doing. "Phone. Where's my phone?"

Kurt finally opened his eyes and rolled his head towards Blaine. "It's on the coffee table." He watched Blaine lift his arm, trying to reach the table a foot away from him without getting up.

"Too far," he said, letting his arm drop back to the floor with a dull thud. "You call."

"I put my phone on the table when I walked in."

"Kuuurt, why would you do that?" Blaine whined pitifully.

Kurt laughed. "You did it, too." Blaine huffed in annoyance, and, after a moment Kurt finally found the willpower to stand up. "I'll order the pizza, but then I'm showering and you're in charge of answering the door, okay?"

There was an affirmative grunt from where Blaine was lying on the floor so Kurt picked up the phone and ordered a large Hawaiian pizza and a greek salad.

“Best fiancé ever," Blaine said when Kurt hung up a minute later.

"I try," Kurt winked at him, turning to go shower. He picked up a box of his clothes on the way and brought them into the guest room. "You better answer that door when they get here though, or else you're going to have a very unhappy fiancé." He couldn’t help but grin a little as he said the word. They were getting married. Kurt had a fiancé. Even if it was all kind of make believe.

* * *

A few days after moving in with Blaine, Kurt was working in his office at Vogue when there was a knock on his door.

“Hey handsome,” Blaine said from where he was leaning against the doorframe. “Care to go out to lunch with me?”

Kurt grinned. “What are you doing here?”

“Heard a rumor that people didn’t believe you were engaged, figured I’d stop by to prove them wrong,” Blaine shrugged.

“Well, come on in then fiancé. I have to finish writing this so I can send it to Emily before lunch, but it should only take me a few more minutes.”

Blaine entered the room, settling himself down in the chair across from Kurt’s desk, automatically reaching out to fiddle with the Rubik’s Cube Kurt had there.

A minute later, Blaine jumped, turning around at a knock on the door. “Hey Kurt, I wa- oh,” the man said, eyebrows raising as they landed on Blaine. “Who’s this?”

Blaine glanced over at Kurt and saw a smirk cross his face before he settled on a polite smile. “This is Blaine, my fiancé. Blaine, this is Chase.”

Blaine stood up, shaking Chase’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Chase nodded, eyeing him shrewdly as he dropped his hand. “You’re Kurt’s elusive fiancé then? Who none of us met or knew Kurt was dating until a few weeks ago?”

“Um, yeah,” Blaine said trying to sound confident. “We wanted to keep the relationship quiet while we got settled, and, well I’m sure he told you about our sudden transition to fiancés.”

“You having some regrets about jumping into it so fast?” Chase smirked, and Blaine really did not like this guy.

“Of course not,” Kurt interrupted, grabbing his bag. “What was it you came in here for Chase? Blaine and I were about to go out to lunch.”

“Oh- I wanted to drop off this,” he said, passing a folder to Kurt. “And I was also wondering if you wanted to join me and a few of the others for lunch, but you seem to have plans already,” he added with a disdainful look towards Blaine.

“Yes, I do,” Kurt snapped, trying to contain his anger at the way Chase was treating his relationship with Blaine. They had hooked up one time. Chase had no claim on him, and certainly no reason to be rude to Blaine. He grabbed the folder, putting it on his desk before grabbing Blaine’s hand. “You ready to go?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Blaine said, following Kurt out the door with one last confused look at Chase.“What was that all about?” Blaine asked when they finally reached the sidewalk outside, still holding hands.

“Well,” Kurt started, allowing Blaine to lead him in the direction of the restaurant he had picked out. “I told you that the office thought I was joking,-”

“Yes! But he was weirdly rude about the whole thing.”

“Chase decided that I was doing it because I was upset about him not wanting to turn our hook up back in September into a relationship. He’s selectively forgetting the part where I didn’t want to date him and I was a bit drunk when we hooked up. I think he’s bitter about the whole thing,” he added as they stopped at a light. “I didn’t think he’d be such an asshole about it.”

“So he’s not always like that?” he asked, holding the door of an Italian restaurant open for Kurt.

“No, he’s apparently just like that when he gets possessive for no apparent reason.”

They were seated minutes after entering and quickly ordered their food. This was a relief to Kurt who only had an hour for lunch and didn’t want to have one eye on the clock the entire time.

“The hand-holding was a good add in,” Blaine commented when they got their food.

“What? Oh, yeah,” Kurt averted his eyes, hoping his blush would be hidden by the dim lighting. “It seemed like it would be a simple way to do the whole ‘we’re in a relationship’ thing without going overboard.”

“We should probably do that more often,” Blaine commented. “You know, the little casual things like hand-holding. It always seems to be key in movies and on TV shows.”

“It’s been so long since I dated anyone that I’ve forgotten about these things,” Kurt laughed.

“And then there’s me who’s never really dated anyone,” Blaine chuckled. “There are all of these _things_ and I thought we’d be prepared for it, seeing as how the two of us are pretty much the biggest romantics ever, but it seems to be more difficult in practice. I feel like I need a checklist to constantly refer to or something.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Kurt asked, leaning towards Blaine conspiratorially. “Romantic comedy movie marathon tonight?”

“Romantic comedy movie marathon tonight,” Blaine agreed.

* * *

For the fourth night in a row, Kurt came home to an empty apartment. Despite having a few classes together, their schedules had not meshed well lately. Kurt was waking up early every day to get some hours in at Vogue and to make calls for the wedding, while Blaine was out late perfecting performances for class. Kurt sighed to himself, opening the refrigerator door and rifling through for some leftovers.

If he was being honest with himself he had expected that the two of them would be spending _more_ time together now that they lived under the same roof. Instead they were seeing each other less and less, most days they would maybe get a two minute conversation in before one of them had to run off or focus their attention elsewhere. Logically it made sense, they were both busy people to begin with, and throwing a wedding in on top of that did not help. It did little to comfort Kurt emotionally. At this rate, they wouldn’t have a chance to really talk, just the two of them, until after the wedding. Which was definitely not ideal. On the exterior their wedding was almost completely planned, but between the two of them? Well, Kurt was kind of freaking out. There were first dances to work out, and the whole “casual intimacy” thing, not to mention the kiss during the ceremony and the kissing they would probably be coerced into during the reception. And before the reception for their wedding photos. Plus, they had to practice their duet. It needed to be perfect.

Just as Kurt was considering getting a head start on some assignments for the following week, the apartment door creaked open and he turned to see Blaine making a beeline for the kitchen.

“Well if it isn’t my elusive fiancé,” Kurt called out after him, hearing the sounds of Blaine rummaging through the fridge.

He heard a thud followed by a grunt of pain before Blaine poked his head into the living room, box of Chinese food in hand. “Is that the melodious voice of my husband-to-be that I hear?" He clutched his chest dramatically. "Could it be that he and I are actually in our apartment at the same time and we’re both actually awake?”

Kurt laughed. "I would go on and on about how I've been up for hours worried sick, but I'll skip the pleasantries seeing as how we pretty much haven't had a legitimate, non-assignment related conversation since I moved in. Tell me, how is Blaine Anderson?"

"Well, let's see." Blaine headed for the couch. "I got an A on my play writing assignment, the group I'm directing in my directing class decided to actually get their shit together this week and show up to our rehearsals," he sat down. "And this amazing guy that I live with ordered me dinner last night even though I didn't make it home until after he was asleep. How have you been?"

“Way too busy with wedding preparation and Vogue and school, but I have the evening free. Would you be up for a night in of catching up on the DVR?”

“Let’s do it! I’ll grab the wine, you get some shows queued up for us.”

* * *

The next morning Kurt sat up with a grunt. “Where am I? What is with the noise?” he groaned, looking around himself in confusion. After a moment, his eyes landed on the table where a phone was ringing. Not thinking, he picked it up and answered.

“Hello?”

“Well you certainly don’t sound like Blaine,” a voice chimed loudly.

“Why would I be- oh. This is Blaine’s phone isn’t it?” Kurt glanced behind him and finally realized that he and Blaine must have fallen asleep mid movie, as Blaine was currently asleep on the couch in an odd position. Clearly Kurt resting his head on Blaine’s shoulder while he closed his eyes for just a minute had resulted in an eight hour nap.

“Are you Blaine’s bit on the side? Perhaps a secret lover? A helpless stranger who happened upon his phone on the subway? I could use this to practice my method acting!”

“What on _earth_? Who is this?” Kurt demanded as Blaine shifted beside him, snuffling quietly before his eyes opened and landed on Kurt.

“Tis I! Blaine’s brother Cooper.”

“...Why are you suddenly speaking in a Scottish accent? It’s too early for this nonsense, I haven’t even had any coffee. I’m handing you over to Blaine now.” Kurt dropped the phone onto an adorably baffled looking Blaine’s chest. “It’s Cooper. I’m going to make some coffee.”

“Why’d you answer it?” Blaine whined, looking at the phone nervously.

“Because I was confused and it wouldn’t stop ringing and I didn’t think it would be some crazy person speaking in accents and spewing nonsense about characters and method acting before ten am.” Kurt stood up, wrapping a blanket that had fallen on the floor around him like a cape. “And make sure you tell him I’m not your ‘bit on the side.’”

Blaine picked the phone up and tentatively put it to his ear. "Cooper?"

"Hi Squirt! I was beginning to think that your boss had hung up on me."

"My... what?"

"I'm thinking of auditioning for this tv show where the main character’s boss loses his house and has to move in with one of his employees so I-"

"It's way too early for this Coop. The guy who answered the phone was Kurt. As in my fiancé." Blaine stretched out on the couch, trying to regain feeling in his arm as he did so. "What are you calling about? It's not even seven am over there, what are you doing up?"

"The character I'm auditioning for today gets up early every day and no one's up right now so I decided to give you a call. I have some questions about this best man business and I also need to know when I'm actually meeting this guy of yours because it has to be before the rehearsal dinner."

"You've already met him Coop. You might not remember because you were too busy pointing at things, but he was at my graduation."

"Huh. Really?” There was a loud “hmmm” as Cooper apparently pondered the news that he had met Kurt before. “Wait, was he that kid with the hair that went for miles?"

"Yeah, probably," Blaine said, barely resisting the urge to bang his head against the wall repeatedly.

"I remember him! He was quite the fan of me if I remember correctly. Really loved my credit commercial. You might want to make sure he's not just marrying you so that he's related to me."

"I can assure you that he is not marrying me to get closer to you. Regardless, I smell bacon so I'm going to have to go. Bye Cooper, I'll see you soon!" Blaine barely waited for a response before he hung up the phone and dropped it onto the couch before standing up. "Is that bacon I smell?" he called out to Kurt, whom he could hear humming in the kitchen.

"It might be, I can't tell you until you clean up your mess from dinner!"

"Give me thirty seconds." Blaine paused to fluff the pillows back into their original form before wrapping himself in a blanket and scooping up his trash from dinner. "Why is it so cold in here?"

"I don't know, you should turn up the heating though because I’m freezing."

Blaine fiddled with the thermostat, turning it up until the heating kicked on, and then walked into the kitchen. "Mmm, that is bacon I smell," he said, wrapping his arms around Kurt from behind and tucking his chin over his shoulder. "And there's definitely enough for me there. I might just have to keep you here forever. I'm just going to have to pretend that my lawyer got it wrong and we have to stay married forever."

Kurt laughed loudly in response. "At least I have proof that you just want me for my cooking. Bacon is such a basic thing to cook though Blaine, I'm sure you don't need me for that."

"Maybe, but it's so much nicer to wake up with coffee already made and the occasional bits of food prepared for me. I think I've had breakfast more times since you moved in than I've had since the semester started."

"Ah, so it's laziness then, I see. Well. Here's your bacon. I'm meeting Adam for lunch in an hour, and then you and I are getting dinner with Santana and Rachel tonight. I'll be home well before that though."

"You're getting lunch with Adam?" Kurt wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not, but he was fairly certain that Blaine’s arms had tightened infinitesimally around him as he spoke.

"Yeah... we haven't hung out just the two of us in months and he wanted to spend some time together before I got married. I think he also wants the chance to say 'I told you so' in person, because when we broke up, he made it clear that he thought you and I were going to start dating and he was just fooling himself by trying to stand in the way."

Blaine shifted away to sit down at the kitchen table, Kurt following him. "From the sound of it, everyone has just been sitting around waiting for us to get together. I think they've been taking bets on it for years.”

Kurt couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the confused look on Blaine’s face. “I spent most of my Junior and Senior year of high school having to repeatedly tell people that _no we aren’t dating, we’re just friends_. It wasn’t even people I knew half the time. _Everyone_ thought we were dating. _Coach Sylvester_ refused to believe we weren’t.”

“Huh. Now that I think about it, the Warblers used to tease me about us being boyfriends even though we weren’t. Clearly all of them have just never had a friendship as awesome as ours.” Blaine got up to wash his plate off, missing the exasperated look that Kurt gave him. “I think I might go work on some audition pieces for the day. It’s been ages since I had the chance to really practice something that wasn’t for a class.”

“Okay, meet back here by three so we have time to get ready for dinner?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

When Kurt arrived at the diner, Adam was already seated. “Hey, sorry I’m late,” he said, sitting down across from Adam.

“Don’t worry, you’re not late. I got here a little early.” Kurt nodded and glanced down at the menu. He’d been here a few times before so he already knew what he was getting. “How’ve you been? How’s the engagement?”

Kurt laughed. “The engagement is going well, everything is a bit crazy right now, but it’s good. Life is good.”

“While I was expecting you and Blaine to start dating one day, I have to be honest Kurt, I wasn’t expecting everything to happen all at once,” Adam said, raising an eyebrow as though waiting for some sort of explanation.

“I wasn’t either,” Kurt started. “I-” he cut himself off as the waitress stopped by to ask for their drink and food orders, using the time to think up the best way to have this conversation.

“What were you saying?” Adam asked after the waitress had walked away.

“I wasn’t expecting things with Blaine to happen so fast, I know that when we broke up you said that it was because of Blaine, but I seriously never expected anything to come of it. The two of us have been best friends for so long now and I don’t know, I guess I just got used to the idea that people would make jokes about us acting like an old married couple and that one day I would get over my crush. Now that I’m with him though… I don’t know, it’s just really crazy that it’s actually happening.”

“You’re not regretting it are you?” Adam asked worriedly, a tinge of hope in his voice.

“No, no, of course not. Sure it’s all happening so fast, but I’ve been in love with him since the day we met, even when I didn’t think I was, I would see him again and it would bring me right back. I don’t think I could ever regret marrying Blaine.” Although if this fake marriage blows up on us I might, he silently added.

"Well in that case, I'm glad you're happy," Adam said with a genuine smile. "And I am also obligated to say I told you so. So. I told you so. I knew our relationship was a lost cause the first time I heard you talking to him on the phone. There was just no way that I was going to worm my way between the two of you."

"I'm glad we decided to stay friends," Kurt said, reaching across the table to briefly squeeze Adam's arm, ignoring the why his stomach flipped at yet another confirmation that people had been expecting him and Blaine to get together.

"I'm glad the two of you got yourselves together and finally started dating. I would have gone crazy if I'd had to watch either of you starting dating someone else. The two of you really are perfect together."

Kurt smiled half-heartedly before digging into the food the waitress had just brought them. How was it that everyone except Blaine seemed to see them as the perfect couple? Strangers at coffee shops sometimes asked them how long they'd been dating. Sure it worked well as a cover for the whole real-but-fake marriage thing, but the fact that everyone but Blaine could see how well they would work romantically drove him crazy. Even his ex saw it. If Kurt weren't so sure that Blaine didn't want him that way, he would find it funny. As it was, it was simultaneously a little bit upsetting and it was feeding the tiny tendril of hope that their fake marriage might somehow morph into something more.

* * *

By six o’clock he and Blaine were heading out the door for Rachel and Santana’s place, a bottle of wine in hand and both of them dressed a little fancy just because they could. They had discussed their plans for any physical intimacy - hand holding, cuddling when appropriate - and had come up with a few romantic date stories to share if needed. They were pretty certain that they were fully prepared to take on this dinner, and if worse came to worse, they could always subtly get Rachel to start talking about herself to take the attention away from them.

Twenty minutes later they were knocking on the door and Rachel was letting them in. “Kurt!” she squealed, “I haven’t seen you in ages how are you?”

“Rachel, you saw me two days ago,” he laughed. “I’m good though. Way too much to do, but living with Blaine cuts ten minutes off my daily commute!”

“Damn, I knew you had to have some ulterior motive for marrying me,” Blaine groaned good naturedly.

“It’s not my fault that you have prime real estate - at least compared to here,” Kurt said, shrugging and sticking his tongue out at Blaine before turning back to Rachel and Santana. “How are you two?”

“Well,” Rachel started. “As you all know, I’ve been working on my Senior Project, and I think it’s going well, except the guy who is supposed to be doing one of the duets with me doesn’t rehearse. I swear he’s trying to sabotage me. I had thought that he wouldn’t feel threatened by me because it’s not as though we’re in competition for parts, but apparently my talents are too much for him. I’m thinking I’ll have to find someone else instead. Do you think I could get someone from _Newsies_ to help me out? I know that technically we’re supposed to only ask people from our class, but if it’s someone on Broadway…” Rachel trailed off with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“She’s been like this all week,” Santana said, rolling her eyes. “I’m so glad that it’s easy to find someone to hook up with between the NYU campus and my job, otherwise I’d have to spend even more time listening to her.”

“Hey!” Rachel glared at Santana. “I wanted to fill Kurt and Blaine in, we’ve barely seen either of them since they got engaged. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have to put up with you going on and on about the girls that you’re sleeping with. At least _I_ don’t go into detail about my sex life.”

“That’s because your sex life is with _Finn_.”

“Okay so… before this gets out of hand, because under no circumstances do I want to hear about either of your sex lives, when are you two free to go groom’s-women dress shopping?” Kurt asked.

“You’re letting us be part of your bridal party!?” Rachel asked excitedly, no longer glaring at Santana.

“You get to be part of our _wedding party_. If you keep referring to it as a bridal party I will kick you out and reconsider letting you sing at the wedding,” Kurt threatened. He took a breath. “Anyways, I was thinking we would could go tomorrow if you’re both free? I already have Finn’s suit planned, so we just have to find something that will complement that, as well as fit both you and Mercedes. I’m thinking if we can settle on a color and a length, then Mercedes can find a dress in LA and none of you will have to fight over favorites.”

“I’ve got work tomorrow night, so if we can go early afternoon that would be perfect,” Santana said. “Blaine, I’m going to need you to make sure you have some hot women in your half of the wedding party for me to get with.”

“Sorry,” Blaine smirked at her as he sat down at the kitchen table, Rachel and Santana throwing the finishing touches on the food before bringing it to the table. “I’ve got Cooper, Jeff, Nick, and Wes all lined up to be my groomsmen. No room for anyone else. Besides, I’m not sure that I actually have any women that I’m close enough with to ask to be grooms-women. Especially if that means subjecting them to you.”

“Alright gel-head, you know me too well. Kurt’s told you too much. You've spent too much time in this loft. It's probably a good thing that you're no longer practically living with us on the weekends.” She set a salad down in front of him. “Now let’s eat. I’m hungry.”

Dinner went by surprisingly fast. They caught up on each others gossip and Kurt realized just how much he truly loved Santana and Rachel. Especially now that he didn’t have to deal with their crap day in and day out.

Silence fell around the table when they all finished eating, Rachel bouncing up to fill it, pointing at the television. “So I picked out a few movies-”

“We’re not watching a damn musical, Berry,” Santana interrupted.

“Fine.” Rachel huffed. “You pick out some choices then. No porn.”

“Whatever.”

Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other before standing up simultaneously. Blaine quirked an eyebrow at Kurt, glancing over at the sink.

Nodding subtly, Kurt started stacking the dishes on the table, Blaine collecting the food dishes while Santana and Rachel continued arguing.

Kurt was so focused on scrubbing the dishes that he nearly dropped one when Blaine knocked their hips together. “You done yet?” Blaine whispered quietly into his ear.

Kurt suppressed the pleasurable shiver that threatened to run down his spine at the feeling of Blaine’s breath, hot against his neck. “You just gave me a whole stack of dishes to clean,” he accused.

Blaine sighed dramatically before slinging a dish towel over his shoulder. “Fine, I’ll dry, you wash.”

They worked in tandem until the dishes were cleaned, high fiving in victory. They turned around and finally remembered they weren’t at their apartment when their eyes landed on Rachel and Santana who were watching them intently.

Kurt shifted nervously as Blaine froze. “What?” he finally asked when Rachel and Santana merely continued to stare at them.

“Nothing,” Rachel said, shaking her head.

“You guys act pretty much the same as you did before you started dating.”

“There are little differences, but that’s it,” Rachel added.

Blaine shifted slightly, “Well, as you’ve all pointed out numerous times over the years, we already acted like an old married couple before we even started dating.”

“I guess that’s true,” Santana sighed. “I still don’t quite get it though.”

“Well, it’s our relationship, not yours, so don’t worry about it,” Kurt threw in sharply before changing the topic. “What movie did you two pick?”

They ended up watching _Princess Bride_ because it had enough romance for Rachel and enough action for Santana. Kurt was honestly just pleased that they managed to choose one of his favorites.

They were halfway through the movie when Kurt decided he should probably do something to stop Santana from questioning their relationship all of the time. He could tell that she was keeping a close eye on them, like she knew they were hiding something. Apparently the two of them taking up one entire couch cuddling wasn’t good enough.

Just as Buttercup and Wesley were reunited, Kurt felt Santana’s eyes on the two them. He pulled Blaine a little closer to him, stomach swooping when Blaine made a pleased sound and snuggled closer. Blaine weaved their fingers together in response, and Kurt kissed the top of his head lightly. For a brief moment he was able to believe that they were actually dating. It was just so easy.

The spell was broken however when Rachel squealed loudly. “I just love this part!”

Blaine rolled his eyes at her, before turning his head towards Kurt. “I don’t miss this part of hanging out at the loft,” he whispered.

“Hey,” Rachel glared at them, throwing some popcorn in their direction. “I heard that!”

“Both of you shut up so I can watch the movie,” Santana interrupted harshly. “And Berry, you’re in charge of cleaning up the mess you just made.”

* * *

Kurt was just throwing the finishing touches on dinner when Blaine walked in the door.

“Honey I’m home!” came the teasing greeting.

Kurt laughed, turning off of the oven before looking over his shoulder at Blaine who was standing in the doorway. “How was your day, dear? You’re home earlier than usual.”

“I am,” Blaine replied, stepping into the kitchen and making a beeline for the food. “I finished my paper way more quickly than I thought I would. I hope this doesn’t mean you have to change any plans,” he added, a playful look in his eyes.

“Change any plans?” Kurt asked, eyebrow raised, uncertain what Blaine was trying to get at.

“You know, the strippers, the other boyfriend?”

Kurt shoved his shoulder lightly, moving to bring the food to the table. “How about instead of fabricating _another_ fake life for me, you make yourself useful and grab some plates. We haven’t had a proper conversation unrelated to wedding plans in a few days. All I know is that you watched _Masterchef_ without me, and I only know that because I was cleaning out the DVR because we’re behind on _everything._ ”

 


	4. Bachelor Party

A week before the wedding, Kurt got home – it was weird but nice to call Blaine's apartment 'home' - and was ready to settle in for the evening when there was a loud knock on the door. He stood up, slightly confused. No one ever just dropped by as far as Kurt was aware. _Please don't be a secret ex-boyfriend of Blaine's. Please._ He took a breath and opened the door, only to have two people push past him.

"Santana? Rachel? What's going on?" he asked, turning around and throwing a confused look at them as they walked towards Blaine's room. Crap. "Where are you going?" he asked slightly frantic. His stuff wasn't in Blaine's room – it was in the guest room obviously. Fuck.

"You are putting on your flashiest outfit, and then we're going out for your bachelor party" Santana replied, entering Blaine's room.

"What? I said no bachelor party."

"Kurt?" Rachel's voice floated out to him. "These are all Blaine's clothes. Where are yours?"

Excuse. He needed an excuse right now. Screw being angry about the fact that they organized a bachelor party after he specifically told Rachel not to. "They're, umm, in the guest room..."

"...Why?" Rachel asked, entering the living room again.

"It’s-" _Shit. Lie._ "Blaine hasn't had time to clear out proper space in his closet yet, so my stuff's been living in the guest room." _There. That should work._

"Alright, let's do this then." Rachel clapped her hands together and walked into the guest room. Kurt hurried in after her and held in his sigh of relief when he saw that he had made his bed that morning and his nightstand was virtually empty.

When Santana entered the room a few moments later she threw him an odd look. It made his stomach squirm nervously, but she didn't say anything, so Kurt decided not to ask.

"Alright, out of my closet Rachel. I can find an outfit. What are we doing?" He nudged Rachel out of the way and began rifling through his clothes, not quite sure what to look for.

"Your bachelor party. We're going to Adonis – you know, that gay strip club we passed by a few months back – but before we do that, we’re grabbing some food at Footprints Café because it’s cheap, delicious, and nearby. Finn said he’d join us, but that he’s leaving before we go to the strip club because, and I quote, 'I might be his brother, but I don't want to see some naked dude giving him a lap dance,'" Santana said, doing a surprisingly good impression of Finn. "So if you want him there you gotta ask him yourself."

"We invited Tina, Mercedes, Elliott, Adam, and Chandler to join us. Mercedes doesn't get here for a few more days though, so it'll just be the eight of us."

"What's Blaine doing?" Kurt asked, hoping that someone told Blaine to show up there too. On second thought, it would probably be simpler if he weren't there. He pulled one of his tightest pairs of jeans out and matched it with a white long sleeved shirt, black button up vest, and a blue bowtie while they talked.

“Cooper flew in this morning and kidnapped him a few hours ago. I think I remember him saying something about having rented out some space and hiring strippers.”

“I see you’re all on the same wavelength then,” Kurt muttered, heading to the bathroom for some privacy while he changed. He returned to his room a few minutes later, letting out a small sigh of relief when he saw that they were sitting on the bed, not poking through anything.

“Oh, come on Hummel,” Santana admonished when she saw his outfit. “You have got to show more skin. I mean, those jeans are a definite yes, but can’t you at least forgo the long sleeves? We’re going to a strip club for god sake.”

“Not to be a downer or anything, but I really don’t think a strip club is my scene. Besides, I like my layers and it’s winter.”

“First of all, you’re not allowed to tell us that a strip club isn’t your scene until you’ve actually been to one. Second of all, I’m sure Blaine likes it when you lose some of the layers, just think of it as a favor to him when you get home tonight. I know Finn really-” Rachel chimed in primly.

Kurt glanced over at Santana to gauge the chances of her letting him out of this when he noticed her eyes wandering over to the nightstand. He made a snap decision and called her attention back to him. “Fine. I’ll change. Santana,” he sighed internally with relief when she turned to face him. “You know strip clubs better than me, and I trust your fashion decisions more than Rachel’s. Come help me figure out what would be appropriate.”

* * *

The strip club was not entirely what Kurt had expected. There were definitely plenty of hot, well muscled men, but the whole thing felt a bit forced. There was a bar on the right side of the room, a large section of seating in the middle of the room, and a stage for the strippers in the front. It was a little awkward, which was not at all helped by the fact that he was at a _strip club_ with _both_ of his exes. Plus, Kurt was honestly more than a little afraid to touch any of the seats. At Santana’s insistence however, they all sat down at a table near the front. Kurt hid himself in the middle of the group, ordered a drink, and then began plotting ways to get back to the apartment as soon as he conceivably could. Everyone else however, turned their attention to the stage as the first dancer of the night entered.

Halfway through the evening, Santana sat herself back down at their table, just as Rachel was leaving.

“So I looked into this Foundry place that you’re having your wedding at,” Santana said with an accusatory glance at Kurt. “It doesn’t have a waiting list. If I wanted a wedding there a month from now I could set it up, no problem as long as I was willing to be flexible."

Kurt gulped. "What is your point exactly?"

"That your little story with Anderson is bullshit. I don't quite get it though. Why are you guys lying about the whole thing?" Kurt opened his mouth nervously to speak but took a swig of his beer instead, hoping to avoid answering. "You’re clearly in love with each other. You could have just told us all that you just felt like fast tracking your marriage. The two of you have practically been a married couple for years."

"We have not," Kurt scoffed, internally sighing in relief that she hadn’t called their relationship into question.

"You totally have been, but don't distract me. I can tell you're hiding something,” she said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “Spill."

Kurt took a breath before stepping into his acting shoes. As tempted as he was to just tell her everything after having a few drinks, he knew he couldn't. The more people who knew the harder it would be to keep it a secret.

"Maybe we were worried about people giving us a hard time about marrying so quickly."

"Hmm," Santana flicked her eyes up and down his body once before setting her empty class down and standing up. "There’s something you’re not telling me. And I think it has to do with the fact that none of your stuff is in Blaine’s room. But whatever. I have plans to get drunk and not ponder your weirdness. I'm paying Mr. Muscly Weight Lifter over there to give you a lap dance, and filming it because you lied and thought you'd get away with it."

Kurt glared, "And in what realm would you expect me to believe you wouldn't do that anyway?"

"True. You best be here when I get back or else I will hunt you down and then post video of this to your Facebook page."

Kurt was about to call her back over, but decided he should just let the lap dance happen. At least then she would be distracted from her pursuit of the truth. For a little while at least. He sighed, finishing the rest of his drink. He was probably going to have to talk to Blaine about doing _something_ to make it look like they were sleeping in the same room. Straight up suggesting that they share a bed wasn't going to work, because Blaine hadn't even considered it an option when he first moved in. Kurt was just going to have to set up a nightstand for himself or something in there and be extra careful about making the guest room not look as though he slept there. This was all too much to think about while tipsy.

To Kurt's delight, Tina sat herself down next to him, distracting him from his thoughts until his phone buzzed with a text. He glanced at his phone, noticing that it was Blaine, but refrained from checking the message to be polite.

"Go on, answer it. I know this isn't entirely your scene and you've stuck it out long enough to deserve a few texts with your fiancé."

"Thank you Tina, you're an angel," Kurt said, swiping the screen to read Blaine’s text.

 **Blaine 11:05pm:** I think Cooper got me drunk.

 **Kurt 11:07pm:** Well you have exceptional texting skills for a drunk person.

 **Blaine 11:08pm:** I am extremely focused.

*Incoming Call*

“Blaine?”

“Hiiii Kurrt,” Blaine giggled into the phone.

“I’m going to slip outside and then you’re going to tell me where you are,” Kurt said, hugging Tina quickly as she winked at him.

“Cooper took me to this- this really great bar and I just want to live here Kurt. Everyone’s so friendly and the staff just has bowties on instead of shirts and they’re just so _cute_. But I want you here, you should be here Kurt. Why aren’t you here?”

Kurt heard a sad little sigh on the other end of the line and couldn’t help smiling in response as he stepped outside. “How about this, if you can tell me the name of the bar you’re at, I’ll come find you.”

“We’re at, umm, oh! Pieces Bar? Cooper got a room in back for us.”

“Okay, I can be there in… twenty minutes if I’m lucky. Drink some water while you wait?”

“Okay Kurt, I can do that. Although the fruity pink drink I had earlier with the umbrella was so _pretty_ …”

Kurt rolled his eyes. Blaine always had been a happy babbling drunk. “Ask if they’ll put an umbrella in your water then. I gotta go, but I’ll see you soon.”

“Nooooooo.”

“Blaine,” Kurt sighed. “I have to go into the subway, I’ll lose reception.”

“Oh. Okay, bye Kurt, I loooooooooove youuuuuuu.”

“Bye Blaine, I love you too.” Kurt couldn’t help the smile that he had to bite back at those words. He knew Blaine didn’t mean that he was _in love_ with him, but it always made him happy to hear that Blaine loved him. Beyond that though, while he was glad for the excuse to escape his party - it had probably been well intentioned, but a strip club with his exes and a few other friends was _not_ Kurt’s idea of a fun night out. Awkward maybe, but not fun.

Sending a text to Tina letting her know that he had officially bailed, Kurt hopped on the subway, hoping that Blaine wasn’t really as drunk as he sounded. He was a notorious lightweight, so Kurt was banking on the hope that between some water and a pit stop for fries on the way home, Blaine would be sobered up enough to not keep him up all night talking incessantly. As adorable as it sometimes was, Kurt had things to do this weekend. Things that involved him being able to wake up before ten am without wanting to murder someone. He was also going to have to get Blaine out of the bar, but honestly, Kurt had never had trouble getting Blaine to listen to him while he was drunk, so this time probably wouldn’t be any different.

* * *

Kurt showed up at Pieces Bar a little after 1am and was quickly let in by the bouncers only to find himself staring at a room full of men dancing in their underwear. He halted on the bottom step, not sure how exactly he was supposed to find Blaine or how he was expected to make his way through the throngs of people without getting way too much sweat - and possibly some semen ( _ew_ ) - on his outfit. Pulling out his phone, he texted Blaine a quick ‘Where are you?’ before edging his way to the bar.

On his way over, a man in red boxers with some serious abs cut in front of him. “You look a bit overdressed sweetheart, would you like me to help you fix that?”

For the first time since he had gotten engaged, Kurt was relieved to be able to put his ring to use. “Sorry, engaged,” he said, pointing to his finger and attempting to look a little bit apologetic.

“You too? There’s a bachelor’s party going on in the back. The groom to be turned me down.”

“He’s more of a biceps kinda guy,” Kurt said, giving the guy a once over. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go track him down before his brother gets him to do something stupid. Which way’s the backroom?”

The guy pointed to a door on the other side of the room looking slightly put out that Kurt was leaving. “Give me a call if things don’t work out with your man,” he said, slipping a napkin into Kurt’s hand.

“Y-yeah, okay,” Kurt stuttered, unprepared to have guys blatantly hitting on him, especially half naked guys. “I’m gonna…” he gestured vaguely towards the other end of the room before attempting to squirm his way through the crowd.

In a matter of minutes, he was across the room, stumbling slightly as he finally managed to work his way out of the crowd and into the backroom.

He blinked, eyes adjusting to the brighter lights and the calmer atmosphere.

“Kurt!” he heard Blaine exclaim before a body collided with him, hugging him tightly. “You came!”

“I promised you I would, didn’t I?” Kurt said with a laugh, nudging Blaine off of him slightly so that he could greet Cooper and everyone else. “How are you guys?

"So, so good," Blaine said, beaming as he bounced up and down on his toes, clutching Kurt's arm. "Abs over there keeps bringing me the best drinks ever. Can we stay here Kurt? Can we just live here forever and ever?"

Kurt raised an accusatory eyebrow at Cooper while he wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist to keep him from falling down or wandering away. "Just how many drinks has he had?"

"Uh..." Cooper paused for a moment. "Four. And since you're already here, I'm trusting you to make sure he gets home safe." Cooper pointed at him before walking away.

Kurt rolled his eyes at Cooper's back before returning his attention to Blaine. "Alright, let's get you sitting right here," Kurt led them over to the bar before settling Blaine into a seat. "And now we're going to get some water in you before going home.”

"Home," Blaine sighed next to him. "When we go home will you sleep next to me? I get so lonely knowing y- you're in the same apartment but not sleeping with me." Blaine looked up at him with a pout of his face, until he lost his balance three seconds later and ended up laying with his head on the bar.

“What’s this I hear about separate beds?” Jeff asked, poking his head into the conversation.

“Nothing,” Kurt said, blushing slightly while putting a hand on Blaine’s arm to stop him from telling Jeff anything. “It’s- well, before we got together we’d go out to the bar sometimes together and then I’d crash at his place, but not sleep in the same bed because he takes over the whole thing and I didn’t want to have to deal with him snoring when I have a hangover.”

“Okay, well,” Jeff said, seeming to have bought the lie as his eyes slid from Kurt to Blaine, who had nestled his head against Kurt’s arm. “You take care of him, alright? Are you heading out soon or did you want to join us for the _real_ party?"

"We're leaving?" Blaine asked Kurt, blinking up at him with big eyes. "But the party just started and I haven't even gotten to wear one of the waiters’ bow ties yet," Blaine whined.

Kurt sighed, slumping down in the chair next to him and signaled for one of the waiters to bring him a glass of water. "We don't have to go right away, but I want you to drink this glass of water," he said, pushing the glass that a waiter had just brought in front of Blaine. "We both know how much you hate hangovers."

"I haven't even had that much to drink," Blaine protested. At a raised eyebrow from Kurt however, Blaine relented. "Fine, I'll have some water. But you've got to try the fruity drink with the... with the," Blaine frowned in concentration."The fruity drink with the umbrella and the... maybe I should just drink the water," he decided sadly before attempting to chug it down all at once.

"Woah, slow down there," Kurt took the glass out of Blaine's hands and set it on the table. "No need for you to drink it so fast."

"I hear you two are leaving soon," Wes said, sitting down next to Kurt.

"Once he finishes his water, I think we are," Kurt told him, as Blaine pulled at his arm and started telling him how wonderful everything was. "I'd rather him not drink too much more, plus we've got some wedding preparations to do in the morning."

"Ah, well in that case I'll help keep Jeff in check when you try to leave."

Kurt smiled his thanks before turning as he felt a tugging on his shirt. "Kurt, Kurt."

"What is it Blaine?" Kurt asked, moving to take Blaine's had in his to stop him from doing any more damage to his shirt.

"You're so prettyyy, and smart, and cute. But, like, dirty cute," Blaine slurred, beaming up at him. "Can I kiss you? I want to kiss you. Kurttttt."

Blaine leaned forward a little only to slide off his chair and onto the floor, blinking up in confusion at Kurt, who wasn't even paying attention as he was still trying to process the things that Blaine had said. Sure, Blaine was drunk, but that didn't mean him saying those things wasn't completely meaningless... Sure he had made out with Rachel Berry once while he was drunk and had thought he was bisexual, but this was different, right? Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it would be safer to assume that it was just the alcohol and Kurt's outfit making Blaine say these things. The last thing Kurt wanted to do was make Blaine feel as though he had to call the wedding off because Kurt had taken a few drunken declarations seriously.

"Okay Blaine, up," Kurt said, standing up and reaching his hands out to Blaine who was still sitting on the floor looking confused. "Time to get you home."

To Kurt's surprise, Blaine didn't protest this time. "We just need to say bye to Cooper first and then we can head out."

"Cooper? Cooper," Blaine started yelling. "We’re leaving now, Cooper! Bye!"

"What are you- Blaine," Kurt sighed. "We have to go over there and say goodnight."

"But I just wanna go home and cuddle with you," Blaine pouted.

Kurt barely restrained himself from leaning in to kiss the pout off Blaine's face. "Come on you, I promise you we can cuddle the moment we get home."

* * *

By the time they reached their apartment, the alcohol seemed to be wearing off Blaine, but he was by no means any less clingy or apt to profess his love for Kurt than he was at the bar.

“You’re just so pretty Kurt,” Blaine rambled, leaning heavily on him while Kurt tried to open the door to their apartment. “And your hair, how do you get it to swoop like that. It’s so awesome and tall. Why doesn’t my hair do that?”

“Alright you,” Kurt said, finally managing to get the door opened. “I’m going to go grab you some more water, you go change.” Kurt attempted to nudge Blaine in the direction of his room but was met with Blaine’s stubborn pout.

“You promised cuddles.”

“Blaine, sweetie, let me just get you a glass of water first and then we can cuddle,” Kurt sighed, not even noticing that the endearment had slipped out.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Okay,” Blaine said cautiously, loosening his grip on Kurt’s arm enough for him to enter the kitchen and grab a glass from the cabinet.

Kurt filled the glass up quickly before following Blaine to his room.

When he got to the room, Blaine was sprawled out on top of his covers on his stomach. Kurt rolled his eyes at him before placing the water on his nightstand. He sat down on the end of the bed, carefully removing his boots before removing Blaine's shoes from his feet. Blaine wiggled his toes in response before sighing happily as Kurt settled down next to him.

They lay there in silence for twenty minutes or so, Blaine half sprawled across Kurt's chest, before Kurt tried to go to his room.

"Where are you going?" Blaine whined.

"I thought you were asleep," Kurt replied, slumping back down onto the bed with a yawn. "I think it's time for me to go to bed though."

"Just stay here."

"I have to change into my pajamas, and you- You should change too. I certainly can't sleep in these jeans or this shirt and I don't even want to imagine the ironing nightmare your wardrobe is going to be in the morning."

"Fine, promise you'll come back when you're done though?" Blaine asked with a pout, loosening his grip on Kurt.

"Sure honey, you should get changed while I'm gone though. And drink some of that water."

“Okay,” Blaine mumbled, sitting up to tug at his shirt. Kurt watched a look of consternation grow on his face before taking pity on him.

“Here,” he sighed, taking a step closer. “I’ll undo the buttons before I go.” He quickly undid the buttons on Blaine's shirt, trying to ignore the flush that was rising on his cheeks as Blaine watched him. "What?" he finally laughed nervously, glancing up to see Blaine watching him closely.

"You're pretty," Blaine sighed in response, clumsily leaning forward to lean his forehead against Kurt's. "And you called me 'honey' earlier."

Kurt closed his eyes for a moment, tempted to just give in and kiss Blaine. He was about to throw caution to the wind and just do it, when Blaine pulled back, giggling.

"What?" Kurt asked, sucking in a deep breath to steady himself.

"You called me honey. I'm like a honey bee. Get it? Blaine - B?" he laughed, falling back on the bed.

Kurt rolled his eyes, the tightness in his chest loosening a bit with the broken tension. "Whatever you say. I'm going to change, you do the same."

Ten minutes later, Kurt had changed into his pajamas and was just about to climb into his own bed after doing his shortened skin care routine, when he heard Blaine calling out to him from the other room.

“Kurt? Kuuurt? Kurrrrrrrrrrrtttttttttt?”

He sighed, but was inwardly pleased that it apparently wasn't just a fleeting wish of Blaine's that  Kurt sleep in his room with him. "I'll be there in one second, Blaine," he called back, scooping up some advil and his phone. Apparently he was going to have to share a bed with a drunk Blaine. It’d been awhile since they’d shared a bed when only one of them was drunk. This was going to be interesting.

He entered the room the find Blaine sprawled out on his stomach, “You came.” Blaine beamed, lifting his head up a little bit. “Come sleep,” he said, patting the side of his bed happily.

Kurt rolled his eyes, “You’re going to have to move over first. And you should probably get _under_ the covers.”

To Kurt’s surprise, Blaine rolled over, lifting the covers out from underneath him. His movements were clumsy, but no more than Kurt expected from him with the level of drunk he appeared to be.

Kurt climbed in on the other side, careful to not cross on to Blaine’s side of the bed. Blaine rolled over to face him. “Come closer. You promised cuddles,” he said slurring a little as he reached out for Kurt.

Kurt slid over a little, allowing Blaine to practically sprawl across his chest, inserting a thigh between his legs. Definitely not their usual cuddle position when they’d shared a bed in the past. He was just adjusting to it when Blaine shuffled a little bit and he felt a hand on his butt.

“Blaine,” Kurt breathed out, “What are you doing?”

“I touched the butt,” Blaine giggled.

Kurt squeaked, slapping Blaine’s hand away when he squeezed the left cheek. “Blaine!”

“I’m drunk.” Blaine hiccuped. “‘m sorry. I shouldn’t a done that.”

“No,” Kurt glared, glad Blaine couldn’t see his blush because _Blaine decided to touch his butt._ “If  you do it again, I’m going to my room.”

“Sorry,” Blaine sighed. A long silence followed his apology. Kurt had almost decided that Blaine must have fallen asleep when Blaine whispered, “Why did you and Adam break up?”

“What?” Kurt asked, rather taken aback. They rarely discussed their past relationships, or, well, boys, seeing as how they both didn't have much by way of past relationships. In fact, they only talked about them in a perfunctory manner while in them and then during whatever grief period the other needed after the implosion.

“You never told me,” Blaine said, worming himself closer to Kurt.

“We broke up like three years ago. And dated for six months,” Kurt pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’ve always wondered. I don’t understand why anyone would break up with you. If _I_ were dating you, I’d know not to let you go.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, biting back a pleased grin. “Well clearly you need to make sure my next boyfriend gets that memo.”

“You’re giving up boyfriends for the next _year_ for me,” Blaine sighed happily, poking him in the side. “You’re the besttt.”

“We should celebrate that by sleeping.”

“Nooo,” Blaine whined, the pout evident in his tone. “You never answered my question.”

“If I answer it will you let me sleep?” Kurt asked, rolling over a little so he was facing Blaine.

“Yes,” Blaine nodded fervently.

Kurt sighed, deciding he might as well tell the truth. “He thought you and I were dating, or going to date, or something.”

“Is that why he hates me?” Blaine asked.

“He likes you just fine. He said ‘about time’ when I told him about our impending nuptials, I can tell he’s happy for us. Which I feel a little bit guilty about because we’re lying, but that’s a conversation for another time.”

“He’s going to hate me when he finds out.”

Kurt leaned over, kissing Blaine lightly on the forehead. “Goodnight Blaine.”

“G’night Kurt.”

Kurt drifted off quickly, although he was fairly certain Blaine had mumbled, “He’s gonna hate me,” sadly one more time before sinking into the pillows.


	5. We Should Practice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this chapter being so short compared to the rest, but the next one's around 6,500 words!

“Well you sure look like you had fun, Anderson,” a voice said, interrupting Kurt’s dream.

“Will you _please_ talk more quietly?” Kurt heard Blaine groan in response.

Kurt sighed and rolled over, opening his eyes. After a moment of confusion about why he was in _Blaine’s_ bed, he sat up, glaring at the door to the living room that was cracked open.

“Why? You bring someone home with you?” the other person, whom Kurt now realized was probably Santana, responded.

“Of course I did,” Kurt grinned a little at the happy note in Blaine’s voice, swinging his legs out of the bed. “My fiancé was kind enough to come pick me up last night.”

“There’s something weird about the two of you.”

Kurt got up, pulling one of Blaine’s robes on before heading towards the door. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Blaine asked.

“It means that-” Santana stopped talking the moment she spotted Kurt exiting Blaine’s room. “Did you two have sex last night?”

“Well seeing as how we’re _engaged,_ and neither of us buy into the idea of being not having sex until marriage, I think you can probably figure that out yourself.” Kurt said dryly, brushing past them to grab a cup of coffee. “What are you even doing here?”

“Maybe that’s none of your business,” Santana snapped.

“When she arrived she claimed she wanted to make sure we were both among the living. She then proceeded to try to poke around the apartment though, so I think she’s up to something.”

Kurt re-entered the living room. “Well in that case, you can leave now,” he said, gesturing Santana towards the door.

“I’m not allowed to stay and hang out?”

“Hmmm,” Kurt pretended to think on it a moment. “No,” he started to say, before making a split second decision to really try to mess with her. “I have important plans to spend the rest of the morning in bed with my fiancé,” Kurt stifled his smile as he heard Blaine choke on his coffee. “And you don’t live here so I feel no guilt about kicking you out.”

“Alright Hummel, you win this time,” she said, turning to walk to the door. Once she got there she turned back around, eyeing the two of them where they now stood with their arms wrapped around each other. “I still say there’s something fishy going on, but you passed the test this time.”

She closed the door, and Kurt let his head fall against Blaine’s shoulder for a moment. “So what do you want to do with our morning?” Kurt asked. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d be able to fall back asleep right now even if I tried.”

“Well I thought your stay in bed plan was perfect,” Blaine winked exaggeratedly.

Kurt pulled away, smacking his chest lightly. “There is no way that casual sex is something we should even consider adding to this.”

“What’s on the list of things we can add?”

“You making me breakfast while I start my paper,” Kurt suggested with a grin.

Blaine let out a long laugh. “And why would I do that, aside from the fact that pancakes do sound rather delicious right now?”

“Because you love me. And I put up with your drunk ass last night.”

Blaine cringed, and Kurt felt a flash of guilt because he had mostly meant it as a joke. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay,” Kurt assured. “You were mostly an adorable drunk as per usual. Clingy. You were at cuddle whore level of drunk with a side of-”

“Oh my god,” Blaine moaned suddenly, his head falling onto Kurt’s shoulder with a light thud. “I totally grabbed your butt, didn’t I?”

Kurt laughed, blushing lightly,“Yup. You were very apologetic about it though,” he added at the stricken look on Blaine’s face.

Blaine pulled away, “I definitely owe you pancakes. And your phone is ringing, so you should probably go deal with that.”

“Everyone just wants a piece of me.”

Blaine laughed, rocking up to kiss Kurt lightly on the forehead. “Go answer it, sweetheart,” Kurt froze, almost missing Blaine telling him he was going to start breakfast, because he was so caught off guard by the pet name and the kiss. Blaine, however, didn’t seem to notice, as he immediately wandered off to the kitchen, completely missing Kurt’s lack of response or movement.

Kurt stood there for a minute, locked in place, wondering if he should bring up some of the things Blaine had said the night prior. Before he could psych himself into doing it, Blaine called out, “Blueberries, chocolate chips, or both?” and he was knocked out of his reverie.

“Both please!”

* * *

Kurt was putting his laundry away later that day when he was interrupted by a knock on his door.

“Hey Kurt?”

“Yeah?” he asked, mildly distracted as his hand finally landed on the soft jersey sheets he’d been planning to put on his bed.

“Earlier you said you wanted to talk to me about something?”

“What?” he asked, not paying complete attention. “Oh! Oh yeah,” he looked over his shoulder at Blaine. “We should probably figure out how we’re going to make it look like we share a room when I’m actually sleeping in here every night. When Santana and Rachel came over the other night it was… kind of a close call.”

“They came over here?”

“Yeah,” Kurt set the sheets down on the bed. “Before my bachelor party.”

“Right,” Blaine nodded. “Hmm, what were you thinking for this plan? Because it’s probably mostly on your end, making it look like you don’t sleep here every night.”

“I’m going to have to make my bed every morning aren’t I?” he sighed.

“Well,” Blaine said with a wry smile. “If you don’t and someone sees, we’re going to have to pretend to be fighting.”

“Well in _that_ case,” Kurt said, picking up the sheets again, “I should probably take over the second nightstand in your room.”

“Sounds smart, I’ll clear it out for you tonight.” Blaine grabbed the opposite end of the fitted sheet, moving to help Kurt start making the bed. “There’s some closet space in there as well. Obviously not enough for too much, but enough that it would seem legitimate.”

“Well, it is very believeable that there wouldn’t be enough room for all of our clothes in one closet. I’ll put some of the clothes I don’t wear so much in your closet and put the rest in mine. And then I guess all I have to do is make sure I don’t leave overnight stuff lying around?”

“I think so. your desk and stuff is in here anyways, so I think a lot of things could be easily brushed off as being in here because of that.”

“Good,” Kurt grabbed the top sheet from on top of the box. “If anyone shows up while I’m asleep, you’re going to have to wake me up.”

“If I did that, we would actually end up in a fight.”

“You’re really pushing for a fight, aren’t you?” Kurt teased.

Blaine shrugged. “What can I say, I’m an actor.”

“Embarking on a year long improv assignment?”

“Precisely.” They finished tucking the sheet in, Kurt tossing a few blankets haphazardly on top of it.

“Okay,” he yawned. “I know it’s only nine, but I’m wiped.”

“I can see when I’m not wanted,” Blaine jokingly huffed. “I’ll see you in the morning then?”

“Depends how early you wake up. I’m planning on heading to the office for a few hours before class.”

“Okay,” for a moment Kurt was sure Blaine was going to say something more, but instead he turned towards the door, heading out of the room. “Well, good night Kurt!”

* * *

“So I’ve been thinking,” Blaine started to say slowly over a late breakfast a few days before their wedding. “We should, well, rehearse the kiss for the wedding ceremony and then the ones during the reception.”

“We should _what_?” Kurt spluttered, struggling not to choke on his cereal, because Blaine’s tone of voice was _far_ too casual for what he had just suggested.

“Practice. Kissing. Because the ceremony dictates we kiss and during the reception it’s sort of expected…” A blush began to rise on Blaine’s cheeks as Kurt continued to stare at him. “Or maybe not, we can just wait until the wedding. We kissed that one time. We should be fine. Just forget I-”

“No, no it’s okay,” Kurt finally said, cutting off Blaine’s nervous rambling. “It’s a good idea. I just wasn’t expecting you to suddenly suggest that. And I’m really not sure how exactly we’d practice. I mean,” he blushed, hoping Blaine wouldn’t notice, “I obviously understand how the whole, you know, kissing thing works, but…” he shrugged, hoping Blaine would understand the issue. Well, the part of the issue where it was awkward to go from eating breakfast to making out with your best friend. Beyond that though, he wasn’t sure how he would stop himself from kissing Blaine all the time once he essentially had permission to do it. Permission that might be limited, but… kissing was nice and Blaine was nice. They were both addicting. It could be an issue. Especially if he got carried away while they were practicing. Basically it was kind of going to be a landmine, but it would make the reception weird if they weren’t comfortable kissing as though they’d been doing it for months.

“It’ll be fun!” Blaine said, perking up at Kurt’s acceptance of his idea. “We just, umm,” he paused, eyebrows furrowing in thought for a moment before continuing. “Okay, so I don’t have a precise plan for this. I was just kind of thinking about how casual kissing between the couple is expected during the reception, and there’s that whole ‘you may now kiss,’ bit during the service.”

Kurt took a sip of his orange juice, taking a moment to consider the idea of practice. “We do still need to practice our first dance and finalize the list of slow dance songs we want. We could mix them together?”

Blaine breathed out a sigh of relief. “So you don’t think I’m completely crazy for suggesting that we practice then?”

“Oh, I think you’re completely crazy,” Kurt replied, standing up to clear his dishes. “I just recognize that there’s a bit of truth to your crazy. Practicing is important. You wouldn’t perform a play without rehearsing first, this is similar.”

* * *

They spend the next evening dancing and kissing.

They were three songs into Blaine’s “Slow Dances of the Past Century” playlist when Kurt finally worked up the nerve to ask about the kissing. “Are we going to practice kissing?” he blurted, immediately feeling a blush spread across his face.

Blaine fumbled the next step, but regained his balance quickly, taking a step closer to Kurt. “Yeah,” he said, voice a touch higher than usual. “Um, should we do a fancy bendy kiss?”

“Oh, um,” Kurt bit his lip, trying to drag his attention away from how wonderful the idea sounded, and back to the conversation. “Yes. Yeah, definitely. The crowd will love that,” he said, mentally adding _and so will I_ before starting to dance again as the next song started.

Halfway through the song, Kurt twirled Blaine, before slowing him to a stop and dipping him. For a moment, Kurt thought they might actually get the kiss right on the first try. The illusion was shattered however when he tried to change his grip on Blaine’s waist while leaning in. Blaine jostled forward, almost managing to regain his balance, before falling on his butt as Kurt tried to keep his own balance.

“I’m so sorry!” Kurt said, stepping closer to Blaine and trying to figure out how to best help. “I didn’t mean to drop you! Are you okay? Please tell me that you’re okay.”

Blaine rolled over before pushing himself up off the floor. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Just. Let’s try to avoid that outcome next time. The last thing I need before our wedding is Santana deciding that my bruised ass is a window into our sex life.”

Kurt choked on air, eyes widening. “I forgot that we have a fictitious sex life. How does that catch me more off guard than this whole wedding thing?”

Blaine stood up, gripping Kurt’s arm to steady himself. “I’d be surprised if _nothing_ about this caught you off guard. The other day I was waiting for class to start, and some of the girls in front of me were complaining about how they were going to be single forever. And I was about to join in when I realized ‘oh yeah, I’m getting _married_ soon.”

Kurt laughed, stepping closer to Blaine to start dancing again. “Don’t you dare forget you’re getting married. I don’t think I could live with the shame of having my own fiancé forgetting I exist,” he teased.

“As if I could _actually_ forget about you,” Blaine rolled his eyes. “Okay, you ready for the kiss this time?”

“I- yeah,” Kurt said, trying to think of it purely as acting.

“Okay, I’m just-” Blaine broke off, leaning in carefully as they both slowed to a stop. Before he could close the gap however, Kurt did it for him, deciding to just dive in.

Their lips met and Kurt’s eyes fluttered closed. For a moment, he lost himself in the kiss, before being tugged back to reality when he felt Blaine pull him closer.

After a long moment, they both pulled away, breathing heavily, and, to Kurt’s delight, Blaine was blushing.

After an hour or so it became overwhelming. Having Blaine in his space like _this_ as though they truly were a real couple preparing for their wedding was unsurprisingly making Kurt start to believe the lie.

“I think it’s time for a break,” Kurt managed to say, voice calm, as the song came to an end.

Blaine pouted. “You don’t want to dance with me anymore?”

Kurt rolled his eyes, flopping down on the couch. “Our wedding’s in a few days. We can dance all night then.” He tilted his head to look at Blaine. “Besides, I think we have the casual kiss while dancing thing down. And if we dance anymore I’m going to have permanent sweat stains. You need to get the landlord to fix the heating in this apartment.”

 


	6. Rehearsal Dinner

The day of the rehearsal dinner, Kurt was up early drinking coffee while triple checking all of the plans for the day. Relatives and out of town friends were going to start showing up in a few hours, possibly wanting to say hello before the dinner, and he needed to be prepared to act his part for an audience.

As he was just beginning to truly appreciate his coffee, there was a loud banging on the door, causing Kurt to jump, coffee almost spilling everywhere.

He blinked at the door in confusion for a moment. It was 8am, no one was supposed to be awake right now, let alone attempting to bust down his door. He got up, walking briskly towards it because Blaine was _asleep_ and seriously who was the rude asshole outside their door. He hadn’t buzzed anyone into the building.

He reached the door and flung it open, “What do you want?” he demanded. He looked the man up and down, now completely confused because he had never seen him before in his life, although something about his nose looked familiar.

“Well that’s no way to greet someone,” the man said, glaring pointedly down at Kurt.

Kurt refused to feel guilty. “Well what else would you expect when you show up without any warning, pounding on my door at 8am? I still have no idea who you are.”

“I’m Blaine’s Uncle John,” he said, before pushing past Kurt and into the apartment.

Kurt quickly closed the door, following along behind him and grabbing his arm. “Well, in that case, have a seat in the living room and I’ll see if your loud knocking woke him up.”

As he turned to knock on Blaine’s door, he glanced towards his room and was glad to see that in his mostly pre-coffee state he had remembered to make the bed and put his things in the nightstand drawer.

Just as he was about to poke his head in, the door swung open and Blaine appeared, hair a mess, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “What’s goin’ on?” he slurred, glancing around the living room. Kurt could see the moment when he spotted John, eyes widening and hand dropping away from his face. John for his part, was watching them critically from where he had been looking through one of the photo albums on the table. “What are you doing here?” he asked, straightening up.

John raised an eyebrow. “Is that anyway to great your uncle?”

“Normally I would say no,” Blaine said, still standing by his door. “But seeing as how you basically threatened me last time I saw you and now you’re here at _eight am_ , yeah I’m going to greet you that way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get some coffee before dealing with this.”

Blaine walked into the kitchen, leaving Kurt to deal with John who continued poking through their stuff.

“Where’d he find you?” He picked up a photo of the two of them at Dalton. “I must admit, I’m impressed that he went through the trouble of photoshopping you into some of his pictures.”

Kurt crossed his arms, trying to will Blaine back into the living room before he punched this man. “He didn’t ‘find’ me anywhere. We started dating a few months ago, and we knew we were going to get married at some point - even had a venue picked out - so we thought, what the hell, let’s do it now.”

“Just like that, after dating for a few months, you’re prepared to promise yourselves to each other?” he asked skeptically.

Kurt raised an eyebrow, attempting to come across as confident as he heard Blaine reenter the room. “Blaine and I have been best friends since we were 16. The day we decided to become romantically involved was the day we both decided we were in it for the long haul, because you don’t just date your best friend on a whim. You do it because you’ve thought about it, and you know that it will be difficult, but you’re both planning on being in it for a long, long time.”

He felt Blaine come over next to him, wrapping an arm around his waist and resting his head against Kurt’s shoulder. “So yes, Blaine and I might be jumping into the whole marriage thing faster than planned because of this stupid inheritance, but we would have ended up here anyway. Any meddling you attempt to do is going to fall on its face because we know exactly what we’re doing and we love each other. Now. If you would kindly leave, so that we can deal with last minute rehearsal dinner and wedding needs, that would be lovely.”

John stared at him, clearly not having expected that little rant. “Well,” he said, turning to look at Blaine. “I must say that I’m rather surprised you didn’t mention him last month. He seems so sure of you, while you just looked panicked and asked the lawyer if there was an alternative way for you to get the inheritance because you claimed not to have a boyfriend. What changed?”

Blaine rolled his eyes, clearly having woken up a bit from the coffee. “Nothing changed. At the time I was hoping that there was some loophole so I wouldn’t have to ask Kurt to marry me way sooner than planned, but there wasn’t, so I asked him. And so far it’s worked out wonderfully, and I’m positive our marriage will continue on the same trend.” Blaine took a step forward, unwinding himself from Kurt in order to grab John’s arm. “Now, I do believe my fiancé asked you to leave because there’s a lot that needs to get done today and we don’t need any extra people underfoot.” Blaine led him to the door, pausing briefly to open it before lightly pushing John outside. “See you around, bye!” Blaine said with a false cheerfulness before slamming the door closed.

He turned to look back at Kurt who was closing the photo album John had pulled out. “Well that was not how I expected to start my morning,” Blaine said, walking towards the kitchen, presumably to get breakfast.

Kurt followed him, wanting to get back to his abandoned bagel. “I’m actually a little bit surprised that he didn’t show up sooner. I thought for sure he was going to come by once he heard about our engagement.”

“He was probably just trying to lull us into a false sense of security,” Kurt replied. “I bet he’ll spend the next two days trying to stir up trouble for us or stop the wedding or something.”

Blaine sighed, staring at the toaster and waiting for his bagel to finish. “He is going to be such a pain to deal with.”

“We made it through Cassandra July’s class _and_ the respective homophobic shit we both encountered in Ohio. We can handle him. Just - if someone knocks on the door while I’m asleep, make sure you wake me up or something before you answer it so they don’t find us sleeping in separate beds.”

Just as Kurt was putting his plate in the sink, the buzzer at their door went off, causing him to drop the plate and let out a small scream.

“We have got to put a do not disturb sign up.”

Blaine nodded in agreement before plucking his bagel out of the toaster. “After the wedding we should just tell everyone that they’re not allowed to come by for a week because we’ll be celebrating our newly wedded bliss.”

The buzzer went off again and Kurt rolled his eyes. He stomped over to the door, pushing the answer button. “This better be good,” he said, beyond caring who it was.

“Hello?” replied an unfamiliar voice. “This is Janet, the executor of Mary and George Anderson’s will. I’m here for a check in.”

Kurt turned around to gape open mouthed at Blaine, who stood frozen in the kitchen, bagel halfway to his mouth.

“Is now a good time for me to come up?”

“Uh- sure. I mean. We don’t have much time right now what with the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, but if it won’t take too long…” Kurt said into the intercom.

“It shouldn’t take too long, and I’m supposed to talk to you before the wedding.”

“Alright, come on up,” Kurt said, trying to infuse some enthusiasm into his voice while hitting the button to unlock the door.

“What do we do?” Blaine asked from across the room, still standing there with his bagel halfway to his mouth.

“I don’t know!” Kurt squeaked. “Umm, I mean, we’re kind of set already? I don’t know! I’m going to make sure my room’s set, you check your room and make sure it looks like both of us slept there?”

“Bed’s already made,” Blaine replied,  finally setting down his bagel as Kurt rushed past. “Habit.” He glanced around the room as Kurt’s eyes darted around the bedroom. “We just need to be in couple mode I think.”

Kurt threw on a nicer shirt before he came hurtling back into the living room in time to hear a knock on their door. Blaine approached it, hands resting on the knob and lock for a second before he turned to look at Kurt.

"Ready?"

Kurt took a breath and nodded, relaxing his posture as he did so. He could do this. Just another tiny little hurdle to keep up the charade.

Blaine opened the door to reveal a woman who was a little bit shorter than himself. She had blond hair and a suit that screamed Professional Lawyer.

She held out her hand to Blaine who stared at it for a moment before reaching his right hand out to shake hers. "It's good to see you again Mr. Anderson." She released his hand and turned to look at Kurt. "And this must be your fiance."

She stepped back again, glancing around the apartment and then at the two of them. "Let's start with a tour of the place. Then I have some questions to ask before I get out of your hair. I'm sure you have a lot to do."

The tour was brief and clearly perfunctory - they had a two bedroom apartment, how much could they possibly be hiding? Janet walked into every room, opened the closets, and then sat down with them in the living room.

"I noticed that there are a lot of clothes in the guest room closet."

"Blaine and I are both really bad at sharing closet space," Kurt started, a little bit too quickly. Blaine put a hand on his thigh, somehow managing to help him focus. "The closets in this place are tiny and we haven't had time to put our summer wardrobes in the guest closet and our winter stuff in our bedroom." He mentally patted himself on the back for remembering to call it ‘our’ bedroom.

Janet seemed to accept his answer, writing something down before asking her next one. "How long have the two of you been together?" she directed the question at Blaine.

"We started dating about three months ago," he said, moving to grasp Kurt's hand. Janet raised an eyebrow at his words, clearly believing that this marriage was all about the money. Blaine rushed to explain, "We've been best friends since we were sixteen - we didn't just meet a few months ago and then decide to get married."

She made a skeptical noise but continued on. "When we met last month you told me you didn't have a boyfriend." Kurt snorted, and Blaine shot a glare at him. "Yes, Mr. Hummel?"

"He was trying to get out of the marriage clause," Kurt explained. "Normally I'd be upset that my own boyfriend was denying my existence, but I made an exception for that. I mean, I think we all know that the two of us aren't getting married at twenty-one of our volition. When he told me about the will however, we decided that we might as well get married now, because it was going to happen eventually."

"Actually, that reminds me," Blaine interrupted. "You're interviewing our friends at some point, right?" Janet nodded. "Can you- We didn't tell them about the will. We didn't want them treating our impending nuptials like a joke. So if you could not mention it, we'd be grateful."

Janet set her clipboard down. "What do you want me to tell them then?"

"I was thinking..." Blaine fiddled with his bowtie. "I was thinking you could tell them that my family is very protective of its assets and keeps tabs on every marriage for the first year?"

"That's essentially what I am doing. Your friends won't find that weird?" she said quizzically.

Blaine shrugged. "Most of them will assume it's a rich family thing, and the ones that come from rich families know how weird 'old money' can be. The important part is leaving out the inheritance and the marriage clause and everything. I don't want anyone belittling our marriage."

"And what if I say no to this?"

Blaine blinked, eyebrows raising in surprise. "I hadn't really considered that outcome... you are my family's lawyer though, you're here to help protect us. And aren't wills private?"

"They become public record after the testator dies and the executor of the will files with probate court. However," she added, "I can neglect to mention the marriage clause."

" _Thank you_ ," Blaine sighed, slumping back on the couch.

"We appreciate it," Kurt added, before glancing at the clock and realizing how much time had gone by.

Luckily, Janet chose that moment to stand up. "Well, everything appears to be in order here," Janet said, making a final mark on her clipboard. "I will see you both at the dinner tonight."

"The dinner?" Blaine asked dumbly, the two of them standing up and walking with her to the door.

"Your rehearsal dinner," she said, raising an eyebrow. "I sent you an email after the wedding announcement." At both of their blank looks, she continued. "I'm required to attend the dinner and wedding to help verify the legitimacy of your marriage."

Kurt pushed aside the fear that shot through him at this in order to play his part. He rolled his eyes, stepping forward to slip his hand into Blaine's. "We've been so busy with the wedding planning that Blaine must have missed the email."

"I hope adding me to the festivities won't be a problem," she inquired, tone making it clear that she was to be added no matter what.

"Of course not." Kurt said, trying to smile easily at her. "My cousin Wren actually had to cancel a few days ago, so we won't even have to struggle to find you a place." Thank god he wouldn't have to move everyone around and order another dinner to fit her in. The table his cousin would have been at would actually be a great place for Janet to sit. His family would probably tell her all about how his parents had had a whirlwind relationship that had quickly culminated in a wedding. Although Kurt was now setting a new record.

"Good," she said with curt nod to them both. "I'll see you at six," and with that she was out the door, leaving Kurt and Blaine inside, hands still clasped together.

Blaine noisily let out a breath, shooting Kurt a guilty look. "I'm sorry I forgot that she had to stop by and do a check in and come to the wedding."

Kurt tamped down the urge to scold him. There wasn't enough time for that, and they'd survived the encounter seemingly unscathed this time. "It's alright." He glanced down at his watch, "We need to get going though, we're already an hour behind schedule."

* * *

The rest of the day leading up to the rehearsal dinner was a whirlwind of activity that left Kurt with very little time to breath. Between making sure that out of town guests’ flights had landed safely and they were checked into their hotels okay, and that in-town guests hadn’t tried to stage a hostile takeover of the dinner (Rachel), Kurt had had no time to himself, so the fact that he was getting _married_ in less than twenty four hours didn’t fully hit him until he showed up at the restaurant they’d booked for the evening.

* * *

He was just about to start his second lap around the block when Blaine arrived. “My family’s flight finally got in, and they’re stopping at the hotel first but they should be- hey,” Blaine froze, grin sliding off his face. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

For a moment, Kurt attempted to pretend that everything was alright, but he knew Blaine would see right through the smile he’d hastily pasted on his face. “It’s nothing, I’m just- freaking out a bit.”

Blaine led him gently around the corner, away from the entrance to the restaurant. “The reality of all of this is hitting you, too,” he said sympathetically.

“I don’t know why!” Kurt let out loudly. “Well, I know why obviously, but I know the whole thing has been planned as meticulously as possible, and it’s not as though we’re going to end up getting a divorce filled with bitterness and hate. I don’t know why I’m suddenly panicking.” He sniffed and blinked back a few rogue tears.

Blaine grabbed Kurt’s hands and pulled them towards his heart. “I’m freaking out, too. I think it’s normal. Pretty much everyone gets nervous before their wedding, and even if ours doesn’t have the same set of fears attached to it, it’s still a big commitment. I mean,” Blaine lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Neither of us can date anyone for a _year_. Do you want to know the last time I managed to go that long without a date?”

Kurt smiled despite himself. “When?”

“ _Eons_ ago. _High school_ ,” he said, throwing his arms into the air dramatically.

Kurt rolled his eyes, biting back a laugh. “Well Mr. Dramatic, I think we’ll be able to make it. At least this way neither of us will have to go on dead end dates for a while. And,” he started to say, voice going up in excitement. “Neither of us will have to worry about blind dates or secret setups!”

“Yes!” Blaine cheered.

They both grinned, and Kurt pulled Blaine into a hug. “Thank you. I don’t know how you do it, but somehow you always manage to break through my freak out vortex.”

“That’s what best friends are for.”

Kurt pulled back, moving to hold Blaine’s hand as they started walking back to the restaurant. “I thought best friends were for sham marriages,” he teased.

Blaine playfully shoved him into a wall, earning a reproving glare from one of his relatives who had just arrived. “You are such an ass, Hummel.”

“Ooo tell me more about Hummel’s ass,” Santana said, walking up behind them.

Kurt glanced over his shoulder at her. “I’m ignoring you now.”

* * *

Kurt automatically reached out to squeeze Blaine's hand nervously as Rachel loudly clanged her spoon against her glass an hour into the festivities and stood up. "Can I have everyone's attention please?” She paused, waiting until most of the room had gone quiet. “Thank you. "I'm going to start off the speeches for the evening, and we have a few because these two insisted that there only be four tomorrow." She shot the two of them a glare, before turning back around to face the twenty or so people turned in their seats to look at her.

"I've known Kurt since we were in high school, which as you know, wasn't all that long ago, but I digress. We met because of Glee Club. At first we were almost enemies - he was the only one with the talent to match mine -"

"Excuse me?" Mercedes scoffed, tilting her chair back to smack Rachel's elbow.

"Okay, fine, he was the only one with the talent and drive to reach Broadway that matched mine. As I was saying, we were able to set that aside once Kurt transferred to Dalton. When that happened, he became one of my first real friends. I didn't understand what friendship was until he came along.

"I always thought I couldn't worry about friendships until I had my first Tony in the bag. As much as I would like to say that I had the honor of being _Kurt's_ first friend, Mercedes gets that award. However she does owe me ten dollars, because the day Kurt first told us about Blaine I bet her that the two of them would get married." She held out her hand expectantly while Blaine leaned over and nudged Kurt’s shoulder.

“Are we responsible for making sure she gets her money back if they find out?” Blaine whispered, breath warm on Kurt’s ear as he leaned close.

“I’m not sure about the money, but we’ll definitely be responsible for her wrath,” Kurt replied before returning his attention to Rachel, who was now discussing her future Broadway triumphs. Or, more accurately, the two callbacks she’d gotten that she could (understandably) talk about for days. Kurt almost sighed in relief when Mercedes interrupted her, claiming it was time for her own speech.

"Sophomore year of high school, Kurt and I would often talk about our weddings. Everyone else in Glee Club had someone they were coupled with, or someone they were _trying_ to be coupled with. The two of us pretended that this didn't bother us, we tried to play it off as though we were above all of that. I'm not sure how successful we were, but it did lead to us each only having one low drama, very brief, relationship that year.

"In case you don't know about it, Kurt dated Brit-"

"You swore you wouldn't bring this up!" Kurt groaned loudly. "We made a pinky promise."

Blaine glanced between the two of them. "Did you not tell me this story Kurt? You said you didn't date anyone before Chandler."

Kurt banged his head against the table before remembering that this wasn't just a group of their friends - both of their extended families were there as well. "I may have lied. Sort of."

"As I was saying," Mercedes interjected, with a pointed but playful glare at the two of them. "Kurt dated our friend Brittany for a week sophomore year in an attempt to pretend he was straight. It was short lived, but it is important to mention.

"Neither of us thought we would find someone in high school. Kurt especially, because there weren't any out gay guys at our school aside from him. Of course, the moment he resigned himself to this fate, he met Blaine,” she paused in her speech to smile fondly at the two of them. “Once I got over my initial jealousy that Blaine was stealing Kurt's attention, I began to see how great they really were together.

"So all of us back in the McKinley Glee Club waited. And waited. _And waited_ for them to get their acts together and start dating. But it never happened. Kurt transferred back to McKinley before our Junior year was up, and him and Blaine remained best friends. They went to proms together, and we waited some more, but for some reason they both insisted they were just friends and that was it.

"This past November was the five year mark of them becoming friends, and a lot of us decided it was time to give up on it. Perhaps we were wrong and they really were just going to remain friends for the rest of their lives. Of course, Kurt being Kurt, he had to pull one over on all of us.

"I don't know about any of you guys, but I found out they were dating because Kurt called me to say he was engaged,” laughter rang through the room, as a few people nodded their heads. “Like most of you, I was shocked. And then I thought about it for a minute, and realized that I really should have expected it. Regardless of relationship status, these two have been dating for years. They may not have known it, and they may not have crossed into the friends-with-benefits category, but there have been times when I've felt as though these two were more of a couple than me and my own boyfriend. So if any two people can pull off a whirlwind relationship that immediately morphs into a marriage? It's these two." She turned back towards Kurt and Blaine, raising her glass in the air. "To Kurt and Blaine."

To Kurt’s complete shock, Puck stood up next.

“I know I don’t have any formal designation in this wedding, so I’m not expected to give a speech, but I just want to say that I was the reason Kurt and Blaine met in the first place.”

Kurt set his glass down loudly. “Noah.” He said with a raised eyebrow. “Are you of all people really trying to make this about you? Do I need to remind you about _why_ you were the reason I met Blaine?”

Puck grinned at him. “Okay, fine.” He turned back to the small crowd. “Kurt and Blaine meeting was a complete accident. While I’m sure it would have happened eventually, I’m incredibly grateful I got to play a part in them meeting at a time when they both needed each other.” He turned to look over at Kurt for a moment. “Even if it was because I was being an ass. I’m not condoning crappy behavior, but I must say, that was probably the one time that it paid off. And getting to celebrate these two _finally_ getting their acts together and admitting they’re more than friends has been a wonderful bonus.” With a nod to both of them, Puck sat back down.

“Well,” Jeff said, standing up and straightening his jacket while glaring at Blaine. “Blaine told us that only one of us could give a speech because the two of them wanted time to eat and talk to people. But _apparently_ that rule doesn’t apply to Kurt’s people. I see how it is.”

“I didn’t know three of them would give speeches!” Kurt exclaimed. “I told them only one of them could, and sort of expected two, but Puck was a complete surprise.”

“Well, if Wes were in charge of this wedding he wouldn’t stand for it.”

“Here, here!” Nick cheered from where he was sitting.

“As the delegate from Blaine’s half of the wedding party,” Jeff started, settling into speech mode. “I want to start off by saying two things. First of all, it’s about damn time. And: seriously, we have been waiting for you two to get together since Blaine first serenaded Kurt with Teenage Dream, and it would have been nice for you to, at the very least, have done us the courtesy of telling us you were dating before you up and got married. Of course, we really should have expected something like this because neither of you are ones to take the normal route if you can help it. But Blaine’s always so proper, that I expected a handwritten note or a text at the very least, notifying me that you were dating. Apparently not though.

“When I first met Blaine, I thought he was the most normal, conforming person I had ever met. Including Wes. As I got to know him however, it became very clear that I was completely wrong. Blaine is one of the most driven, loyal, and talented people that I’ve ever met. Don’t let that fool you though, Blaine is also a complete goof. He jumps on furniture, throws homework all over the place solely because ‘it looks cool,’ and is willing to spend hours helping anyone with anything, even if it means more competition for him.

“In our Junior year of high school he shocked us all by insisting on doing a duet with Kurt. We all thought it meant he’d finally gotten his shit together and realized him and Kurt were definitely not just platonic. Unfortunately for us, he hadn’t, and we had to wait … four more years?” Jeff looked over to Wes for confirmation before continuing. “Yeah. These two idiots made us wait four more years for them to get together,” he said with an angry glare at them both. “I’ll forgive them both though because they at least waited until we were all 21 to get married so we can drink. They also saved us all the awkwardness of watching them try to marry someone else while we all pretended it would last. Anyway, I want to wish you both the best. I know you’ll blow this marriage thing out of the water.”

Jeff raised a glass to the two of them, and the rest of the room followed suit. Once everyone began talking once more, Blaine leaned close to Kurt’s ear. “I’m sorry about Jeff,” he said quietly. “Although I didn’t realize that everyone apparently had bets placed on us.”

Kurt attempted a laugh. He’d known. His New Direction friends were not the best secret keepers. “Apparently we’re fulfilling some dreams for all of them.”

Blaine laughed, “It seems so.”

Just then, Kurt felt a hand clap him on the shoulder. “How are you two doing?” his dad asked, pulling up a chair to sit close to the two of them.

Blaine glanced around to make sure no one else was paying attention before leaning closer. “We’re doing alright now.” He moved to hold Kurt’s hand in his, as Burt looked at Kurt.

Kurt sighed. “I had a little bit of a freak out before dinner, but I’m good now. Blaine and I talked about it.”

Burt looked like he wanted to say something, but the arrival of Mercedes and Santana stopped him. “As long as the two of you keep talking to each other, openly and honestly, you’ll make it.” With a final squeeze of Kurt’s shoulder, he left to go find Carole once more.

“And how is my favorite couple doing?” Mercedes asked as Santana stood beside her, arms folded and a glare firmly in place.

“Why is there a lawyer woman who keeps asking us questions?”

Blaine straightened up, still holding Kurt’s hand. “Sorry about her. She’s one of my family’s lawyers. She’s going to be hanging around for the next year or so.”

“Why?” Santana asked impatiently, throwing an angry look across the room to where Janet was talking to Brittany. Mercedes elbowed her, but she didn’t change her stance.

“Blaine’s family is rather paranoid about people marrying into the family for money. They investigate every marriage.”

“My Uncle John accidentally got married to a money grubber a while back,” Blaine offered. “They started investigating everyone after that.”

Santana raised an eyebrow skeptically, but Mercedes simply said, “We didn’t mean to bother you with touchy family subjects. We just wanted to congratulate you. And apologize about Puck - none of us told him he could give a speech.”

Kurt laughed. “It’s alright. His speech was oddly sweet actually. If anyone requires an apology for it, it’s some of Blaine’s crew,” he added.

“Don’t you dare give them the satisfaction of an apology,” Blaine said firmly.

“Is there something you’d like to share, Warbler?” Santana asked, stepping forward in interest and letting her arms fall to her sides.

Blaine leaned towards her, letting go of Kurt’s hand. “If you apologize, they’ll think it means all of them now have permission to give a speech tomorrow. We do not need Cooper and Wes to get in a fist fight over speeches.”

As if he had just heard his name, Cooper suddenly walked over, joining their little circle. “Well little brother,” he said, clearly not caring whether or not he was interrupting. “I can’t believe you,” he pointed at Blaine, “are getting married before I do,” he pointed at himself.

Kurt stifled a laugh at this, while Blaine merely sighed long sufferingly. “Sometimes you just luck out and find the one at a young age. And sometimes,” he added with a smirk, pointing at Cooper, “you’re too busy sleeping around to try for something serious.”

“Shh,” Cooper said, suddenly looking alarmed. “Don’t let Mom and Dad hear you. I don’t need another lecture.”

“Oh my God,” Santana laughed. “I can see that your parents did a number on you both.” Her laughter subsided as her eyes seemed to catch on something going on across the room. “Excuse me,” she said, straightening up, demeanor snapping back to serious. “I need to go rescue Brittany.”

“I’m going to go catch up with  Sam before he heads out,” Mercedes said. “Let me know when you’re ready to go, Kurt?”

Kurt nodded, and Mercedes got up, heading for a circle of New Directions boys.

“You two abiding by tradition then?” Cooper asked.

“I hardly think anything about our relationship is ‘abiding by tradition,’” Blaine replied, taking a sip of his drink.

Copper shrugged. “The whole ‘don’t see the bride before the wedding thing’ - only the more modern version of it that’s a bit less heteronormative.”

“Oh,” Blaine said, looking a little surprised. “Yes we are.”

Cooper stayed and chatted with them for a while longer, only getting up when Blaine’s groomsmen descended upon them.

“So,” Jeff said, leaning back in the chair he’d just sat down in. “Your family lawyer seems pretty nice. She turned me down for a date though.”

“I don’t think asking her if she would meet you in the coat room in five minutes qualifies as a date she turned down.”

“It was perfectly innocent!”

“You _licked your lips and winked at her_ ,” Nick said incredulously. “If you think that’s innocent then you’re going to have to go to etiquette school.”

Wes turned to Blaine, “I’m going to get you back for saddling me with these two.”

“Yeah,” Blaine said apologetically as Jeff and Nick started bickering. “I definitely didn’t think that one through.”

This caught Nick’s attention. “You should be nice to us. There’s still time to give Cooper some more anecdotes about you,” he threatened.

“Ooo,” Kurt leaned forward. “You should share some with me.”

* * *

At some point, Blaine’s parents - “Please, call us Pam and Mark” - pulled Kurt aside, out of earshot of everyone else. “We wanted to thank you for doing all of this,” Pam said, hand warm on his arm.

“You’re okay with it though, right?” Mark’s brow furrowed in concern. “We told Blaine that he doesn’t need to inherit.”

The corner of Kurt’s mouth twitched up. “I’m committed to this.” He paused, contemplating how to phrase what he wanted to say next. “It would be… nice, if you could try to make it out here more often though. See some of Blaine’s performances. I know he would really love that.”

“Yes, of course sweetie,” Pam said, surprising Kurt by pulling him into a hug. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, touching her back gently. She pulled back, looking him squarely in the eyes. “You - with or without Blaine - are welcome at our house anytime.”

* * *

An hour later, there were only a few guests remaining, all of whom were at the bar together. Kurt bid them all a farewell, and stepped out of the conversation so he could grab his coat and head home with Mercedes.

Blaine, who had probably had one or two more drinks than he should have, turned around when Kurt stepped away.

Kurt felt a hand wrap around his wrist and was pulled back to the bar. "Oh!" He blinked, and found himself standing between Blaine's legs, Blaine's hands holding his waist. "Hello there," he said, his own hands landing uncertainly on Blaine's shoulders.

"Hi future husband," Blaine grinned.

There was wolf whistle and then a shout of "kiss!" Kurt rolled his eyes.

Boys.

Blaine didn't seem phased however, because he merely beamed up at Kurt. His eyes shining brightly, and his breath smelling of beer. He tilted his head up, pulling Kurt closer, before he paused.

"Come on," Mike said from somewhere to Kurt's right. "Just kiss already! I have things to do!"

Kurt glanced at Mike, "You do not," he said icily. "It's midnight on a Friday and you go to school in _Chicago_. Plus, you're drunk so it's not as though you're going to go back to the hotel and do homework."

Mike laughed, "Kiss! Tina wants a picture for her scrapbook."

Kurt was formulating what was surely going to be a spectacular retort, when he felt a tug on his tie. Turning, he was met with a questioning gaze that was quickly followed by lips meeting his own. He sucked a breath in sharply through his nose before his eyes fluttered shut and he returned the kiss.

Pulling away from the kiss a few moments later, they were met with cheers. Kurt rested his forehead against Blaine's for a moment. He was not used to the surge of emotions that inevitably came from kissing Blaine without warning.

"Okay," Mercedes called from the door. "You two love birds will have plenty of time for that later." Kurt blushed, pulling away from Blaine as Mercedes continued. "Right now I need to take Kurt with me. I expect you boys," she looked around at the guys still at the bar, "to make sure Blaine here gets home safely. This is _not_ The Hangover. Wes, you're in charge."

Wes straightened up a bit, saluting Mercedes with a shot glass.

Mercedes groaned. "I can't trust _anyone_." She seemed to decide pursuing the subject wouldn't be worth it however, and turned her attention back to Kurt. "Come on Boo, let's go."

* * *

The two of them stayed up late in Mercedes’ hotel room talking. He was tempted to just tell Mercedes the truth. It would at least save him from having to spend the rest of the night gushing about _Blaine_ and the _wedding_ and getting _married_. Psyching himself up while acting as though it was all real? It was hard. He couldn't tell her though. He loved Mercedes, but she was far more likely to spill the beans than his or Blaine's parents. So he said nothing and instead talked about Blaine as though it was all real. It was therefore a relief when Mercedes started discussing the wedding itself, and he was able to feign tiredness before "falling asleep." In reality, he was lying awake an hour later, mind whizzing around non stop thinking about how upset people were going to be when they found out the truth.

When he finally fell asleep, his dreams were filled with long hallways and shadowy darkness.


	7. The Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm fairly shoddy at replying to comments, but thank you for leaving them! I appreciate every one of them <3

The next morning, Kurt was awakened by the blaring of the alarm on his phone. He immediately flung an arm out and snatched it up, pressing ‘dismiss’ before rolling over with a groan. Then he shot up. He was getting _married_ today. He stared at the blank TV screen in slight trepidation and a bit of excitement for a moment before his phone buzzed with a text.

 **Blaine:** Good morning future husband! The guys woke me up about an hour ago, and if they see me with my phone, they’ll take it away. I’ll see you soon though =D Hunt me down if your ...problem from last night comes back though.

Kurt reread the text several times before realizing that “problem” meant “freaking out about getting married,” and that Blaine was being extra vague in case someone read his or Kurt’s texts.

 **Kurt:** You better believe I’m ready for this, Anderson.

 **Kurt:** Well, currently I’m sitting in bed still in my pajamas, but you know what I mean.

Acting confident and self-assured always made him feel more confident and self-assured. This would hopefully be the same. Besides, he was sure about marrying Blaine. He was just a little nervous because marriage was kind of a big deal.

 **Blaine:** Why Kurt Hummel, are you trying to turn this into a competition?

Kurt giggled.

 **Kurt:** How dare you accuse me of turning our torrid love affair into a competition.

 **Kurt:** Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go get ready while you think about what you just did.

He stood up and laughed when he saw the kissy faces Blaine had sent in return. His best friend was such a dork.

* * *

“You ready?” Burt asked, stepping closer to Kurt and tying his tie for him - as if Kurt had needed help with his tie in the past decade and a half.

“I’ve been planning my wedding since I was three,” Kurt returned, turning to look at himself in the mirror, his dad staring intently at him through it.

“Doesn’t mean you’re ready,” Burt shrugged, clapping him on the shoulders.

Kurt gave his dad a small smile in the mirror before turning around. “Blaine’s my best friend. If I can make a fake marriage work with anyone, it’s him.”

Burt regarded him silently for a moment. “Look, kid-”

“Alright bitches, let’s get this show on the road!” Santana announced, bursting into the room.

Burt raised an eyebrow at her.

She faltered, looking vaguely sorry for her interruption. Kurt was fairly certain that her cheeks were a little flushed in embarrassment. “I meant ballerinas… and I thought Rachel, Finn, and Mercedes were in here. ...It’s ten minutes until places,” she added, backing out the door.

The moment it closed behind her, Burt burst out laughing. “I didn’t know she knew how to retreat.” He shook his head, focusing his attention back on Kurt. “I should head down there.” He hugged Kurt firmly - during which Kurt managed to refrain from protesting the hug because of his suit - and then headed out of the room with a final good luck.

Kurt turned away from the door, staring at himself in the mirror again. His fingers flexed, wishing Rachel hadn’t taken his phone. He wanted to talk to Blaine. He hadn’t gone this many hours without at least seeing or hearing from him since this whole thing had started.

He turned around when he heard a knock on the door. “Kurt?”

“Finn,” Kurt sighed, a little disappointed it wasn’t Blaine, but immensely relieved it wasn’t one of the girls coming to fuss. “Come in!” he called, turning back to the mirror to make sure his suit jacket looked pristine.

* * *

For the wedding ceremony itself, they’d settled on short and to the point. They would walk down separate flights of stairs, meeting in the middle to walk down the aisle hand in hand. For obvious reasons, they didn’t write their own vows. And instead of typical wedding hymns, Blaine had picked out two classic love songs for everyone to sing.

Kurt’s breath caught in his throat as he laid eyes on Blaine coming down the stairs. One thing was for certain, he was going to have some stunning wedding pictures to show off to his co-workers, because Blaine looked absolutely gorgeous in his suit. Blaine beamed at him, and when they met in the middle, hands clasping, Kurt could feel the way Blaine’s hand was shaking. But he held on firmly.

They reached the front of the crowd and joined their groomspeople. They dropped their hands, turning to face each other instead.

Most of the ceremony blurred together, but then came the vows and Kurt felt the world freeze for a moment. This was really happening.

“Do you, Kurt Hummel, promise to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, this man whose hand you now hold? Do you promise to be to him in all things a true and faithful husband, to be devoted unto him, and to him only? And do you take him to be your lawfully wedded husband? If so, please say ‘I do.’”

For a fraction of a second, Kurt considered saying no, while also promising himself that if he ever got married again, they were writing their vows because even edited, these ones were a little creepy. Blaine squeezed his hand, and Kurt met his gaze, completely forgetting the idea of saying no. Even if he was in love with Blaine, he was doing this because Blaine was his best friend. Blaine always went out of his way for Kurt, even when he didn’t ask. Kurt could do this for him.

Besides, it wasn’t as though he was interested in dating anyone aside from the man in front of him.

He took a breath. “I do.”

Blaine beamed at him, eyebrows lifting as he moved to put the ring Cooper handed him onto Kurt’s finger.

The same process was repeated, this time with Blaine saying “I do,” and then Kurt was turning to take Blaine’s ring from Finn. Facing Blaine once more, Kurt squeezed his hand, and the nerves vanished from Blaine’s face.

He put the ring on Blaine’s finger.

“It is my pleasure, to pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss.”

They leaned forward simultaneously and their lips met in a hard, deep kiss. There was a wolf-whistle from the audience and they broke apart.

Playing the part of brand new, completely in love, married couple, Kurt grinned before moving to walk back down the aisle, holding hands with Blaine.

He had only gone two steps forward, when, one by one, starting with Wes of all people, Warblers and New Directioners alike, started popping out of their seats singing Teenage Dream.

“Did you do this?” Kurt hissed at Blaine, trying to maintain his grin while his stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch.

One look at Blaine’s face told Kurt that he didn’t do it. His eyes were wide, and he was staring around at the people singing in shock. “No.”

* * *

For the next hour they posed for picture after picture with family members and the wedding party. They were finally, finally released to the reception after eleven kisses and seven pictures having to be retaken because someone had wandered off.

They ate dinner, surrounded by their favorite people - the relatives that they disliked being relegated to tables on the outskirts.

After dinner, Burt stood up and kicked off the speeches for the evening. As he talked about Kurt growing up, and how happy it had made him to watch Kurt and Blaine’s relationship grow over the years, Kurt began to tear up. Finally, when he began telling the story of the _first_ time he’d found Kurt and Blaine in bed together, Kurt cut him off. “Dad,” he groaned, making a grab for the microphone.

“Alright, alright,” he laughed at Kurt, dancing away from him. He returned his attention to the audience. “The groom is asking me to wrap it up, so,” he held up his glass of champagne. “To the happy couple.”

Blaine’s parents stood up next. They too reminisced about a younger Blaine, mentioning how they’d seen him truly blossom once he became friends with Kurt. At one point, Kurt glanced over to see Blaine blinking away a tear and reached over, grabbing his hand. Blaine leaned towards Kurt, resting his cheek on his shoulder as his parents wrapped up their speech with a fake story about Blaine calling them on New Year’s Day and telling them he and Kurt had been dating for a few months now and he couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.

Finn’s speech had Kurt shifting in his seat guiltily. He went on and on about how Kurt and Blaine and their love for each other would set the bar high for the rest of them when they went to get married.

Cooper started off his own speech with an adorable story about him and Blaine as kids that had Kurt cooing and making a mental note to call the Andersons for more. After that, he went off the rails a little bit, talking about how Blaine had idolized him when he was a kid, and taking credit for Blaine’s successes. Five minutes into this, Blaine got up. Kurt tried to stifle a laugh as he approached an unaware Cooper from behind, snagging the microphone from him.

“Thank you Cooper for that… revisionist history of my life. And thank you everyone for pausing your conversations for the speeches, I believes it’s now time for my husband and I to have our first dance as a married couple.”

He nodded to the DJ, and music started to play. Blaine handed the microphone off to one of the waiters who was standing nearby, before holding his hand out to Kurt. “May I have this dance?”

Kurt sucked in a breath, grabbing Blaine’s hand as he stood up. “Yes you may.”

They made their way onto the floor, everyone’s eyes on them as they stopped in the middle of the dance floor, Blaine pulling Kurt to him.

“I was going to go with Teenage Dream, but Rachel told me that wasn’t an option for a slow dance,” Blaine whispered. “Of course then they all decided to spring it on us earlier…”

“I bet you could have made it work for a slow dance,” Kurt laughed.

“That’s what I said!” Blaine exclaimed, pulling Kurt in closer.

“Well then,” Kurt tightened his grip on Blaine’s waist as he glanced out at all the people watching them dance. “Next time you shouldn’t listen to her. I must say though, while _You and Me_ is a rather cliche choice, it is a good one.”

Blaine bit his lip, shrugging his shoulders minutely, left eyebrow rising as he did so. “I went cliche with the proposal, figured it didn’t hurt to continue the trend.” Silence fell between them as they rotated slowly, some of their relatives approaching the dance floor with their respective spouses. “Besides, I’m getting revenge on David by making him sing it after all the times he refused to let the Warblers perform it. Added bonus.”

Kurt laughed, a small flutter igniting in his stomach as Blaine winked at him.

As the song came to a close, Blaine moved onto his toes to whisper in Kurt’s ear. “Finish the song out with a kiss?”

Kurt felt his face heat up a little, but nodded anyway. Despite the fact that the two of them had already kissed in front of everyone in the room, it was still a little overwhelming. Virtually no one had seen him kiss anyone before this weekend. That being said, they’d rehearsed this, and Kurt was nothing if not a performer.

As the song faded out, Kurt shifted his hands so he could support Blaine, tilting him down into a dip. He paused for a moment, staring at Blaine’s lips before closing the remaining distance between them. He straightened up once more as the song shifted into something more uptempo.

* * *

Kurt felt contentment settle over him as he looked down at everyone dancing slowly. His dad and Carole. Tina and Mike. Rachel and Finn. Brittany and Santana. Oh god-

He glanced away quickly as he spotted Jeff making out with one of Blaine’s cousins, resolving not to tell him.

Just as he spotted Cooper trying to sneak past his parents, girl in tow, he jumped as arms wrapped around his middle from behind.

“There you are, I was wondering where you disappeared to,” Blaine said, unnecessarily loud with his mouth so close to Kurt’s left ear.

Kurt sighed, leaning back into Blaine’s arms, knowing that the alcohol in his system was stopping his brain from overthinking it. “I just wanted to get out of the crowd for a little while.”

“I needed to escape my Aunt Sarah,” Blaine offered. “She drank a _little_ too much and started hinting at wanting tips on giving a good blow job.” He shuddered.

Kurt winced. “Are you completely regretting the wedding now?” he teased.

Blaine nuzzled his neck in response, only stopping when Kurt shoved him away gently, laughing. He glanced over and saw Blaine grin. “Regret the wedding? No. But I’m seriously reconsidering inviting people to my next wedding.”

Kurt stepped away in mock indignation. “We got married less than ten hours ago, and you’re already planning the divorce?”

“I was thinking about multiple husbands,” Blaine replied solemnly, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Kurt glared. “I want a divorce.”

* * *

They stayed at the reception until only Sam and Mercedes remained. There was a loud peal of laughter, which caused Kurt to look over at the two stragglers. He sighed, lifting his head from where he'd managed to comfortably rest it on Blaine's as they danced.

"What is it?" Blaine asked.

"Remember how you bet me that Mercedes and Sam would rekindle their romance?"

"Yeah," Blaine agreed, not moving from where he had his head tucked on Kurt's shoulder.

"I think you just won, at least in terms of tonight."

"Really?" Blaine asked, finally lifting his head to look around the room excitedly, eyes lighting up when they landed on Mercedes and Sam grabbing their coats and kissing. "Score." He looked back at Kurt, grin on his face. He smacked a kiss onto Kurt's cheek before pulling away again.

"I think it might be time for us to call it a night. Besides, I'm fairly certain that the room Coop got us has a hot tub, and every minute that we spend here is a minute that we could be in it.”

“How is your brother even paying for the room?" Kurt asked as they walked towards the main table, hands clasped together between them. "I looked it up and it's like $900 a night. And he paid for _two_ nights."

"Knowing him he charmed someone who worked there or pretended to own the place."

"Oh my god, what if he did?” Kurt blanched. “What if we get kicked out?" Kurt continued to panic as Blaine helped him into his jacket. With a pat to Kurt’s shoulder, Blaine picked up his own jacket, shrugging it on quickly. "How would we explain that?!"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Blaine laughed, clapping him gently on the shoulder. If something goes wrong, we can yell at Cooper and watch him try to fix it."

"You're so romantic," Kurt replied, faking a swoon and fluttering his eyelashes at Blaine.

"Shut up," Blaine grumbled, shooting him a wry grin and bumping into him lightly. "Let's go let the staff know that we're heading out so they can do the real clean up."

When they walked out the door five minutes later, Kurt was fairly certain they were still holding hands because they both wanted to, not because they were afraid of someone questioning them.

* * *

 

Kurt woke up slowly the next morning, snuggling closer to Blaine, contentedness washing over him. He and Blaine were _married_. He hadn’t ever planned on getting married so young, but then again, he’d never really believed someone like Blaine would come along so early in his life.

Blaine rolled over to face Kurt, clearly awake now. He leaned in, kissing Kurt softly for a moment before deepening the kiss. Kurt grinned into it before pulling back. “Good morning, husband.”

“Good morning husband,” Blaine parrotted with a grin. “You messed up my plans by waking up first,” he pouted.

“I can pretend to be asleep if that helps?”

Blaine sighed a very false, put upon sigh. “It’s fine. “ He smiled again. “I can work with you being awake.”

Kurt was about to ask what his plan had been, when his hips jolted forward in response to Blaine palming him through his boxers. His eyes fluttered back open in time to catch Blaine disappearing under the blankets.

A moment later, he felt Blaine’s hand slide inside his boxers, touching his dick. Kurt gasped, stomach muscles tensing as Blaine started stroking his half hard cock. He felt his underwear being pushed lower and suddenly Blaine’s tongue flicked across the head of Kurt’s dick.

“Oh my god,” Kurt groaned, hips thrusting forward before he woke with a start. He opened his eyes and looked around the unfamiliar room trying to get his bearings as his brain attempted to pick apart what was real and what was part of his dream.

The reality that he and Blaine were married, but not for love, hit him full force in the face, and he sagged into the bed, the realization killing his erection. He couldn’t help but smile moments later however, when he turned his head to look at Blaine. Somehow during the night, he’d ended up buried under the covers - except, the covers stopped at his knees, and his calves and feet were sticking out.

Kurt laughed quietly before sitting up and redistributing the blankets over Blaine’s feet.

This was apparently enough to wake him up, because moments later Blaine snuffled quietly before blinking his eyes open.

He glanced around the hotel room in confusion before his eyes landed on Kurt. “Good morning,” he yawned. Blaine moved his head closer to Kurt, his eyes fluttering shut once more. “Sleep more?”

Kurt’s stomach rumbled quietly. “I think I might need some breakfast,” he laughed.

Blaine threw a leg over Kurt’s as though to keep him from leaving. “Order room service. We have to take advantage of as many perks as we can.”

“Eating in bed?”

“When will we ever get a better excuse?” Blaine shot back, a little too fast for someone who was apparently about to go right back to sleep.

“Okay, breakfast in bed it is,” Kurt agreed. He attempted to get out of bed, but Blaine flung out an arm to stop him.

“Stayyy,” Blaine whined.

Kurt rolled over to face him, unable to stop himself from pinching Blaine’s cheek. “The menu’s by the TV. And I have to use the bathroom.”

“Not even a full day into our marriage and the mystery is _ruined_ ,” Blaine groaned dramatically, releasing Kurt. “You use the _bathroom_? I thought you were above such bodily functions.”

Kurt got out of the bed, his feet landing on soft carpet. “Who said it was for bodily functions? Maybe I just need to get my allotted mirror time in for the day.”

Blaine threw a pillow at him. “Just go already, I want to order food.”

“What happened to sleep?” Kurt called over his shoulder as he made his way across the room.

“ _Food_.”

* * *

The two days that they stayed at the hotel were heavenly. They were pampered by the hotel staff, they went to a spa, and they even had time to take advantage of their giant bathtub/ hot tub by hanging out in it for a few hours.

Unfortunately, the respite that the hotel managed to provide for them came to an end all too soon, and they were harshly thrown back into the real world. The real world where they had to play at being married with their friends as an audience.

 

 

 


	8. Guests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting two chapters today!

Kurt entered the apartment, expecting it to be empty, only to find two people on his couch and a third in the armchair.

He glanced around, looking for Blaine before he was spotted by their guests.

“Oh wow, you weren’t just saying that to get Luke off your back,” he heard one of them call in the general direction of the kitchen.

“What?” came Blaine’s muffled response, followed quickly by him exiting the kitchen with snacks for everyone. Blaine glanced at his friend in confusion for a moment before his eyes landed on Kurt. “Oh!” He set the bowl down on the coffee table before approaching Kurt. “Of course I wasn’t making my marriage up,” he kissed Kurt lightly on the check. “Guys, this is Kurt. Kurt, this is Paul, Luke, and Steve.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Kurt smiled at them politely, trying to refrain from glaring at Luke, who he’d certainly heard about before. He was not going to act crazy about this. They were clearly just here for a project. Just because Blaine had hooked up -not even sex, just made out as far as Kurt was aware - with Luke _one time_ did not mean he was a danger. “What’re you all working on?” he asked, in an attempt to make polite conversation.

“We’re writing a script for a class project,” Luke chimed in.

“We should be done for the night in like an hour?” Blaine added.

“Okay, I’m going to go work on my own homework,” Kurt said. He waved to them all, attempting to smile, before heading to the guest room and closing the door.

Apparently they were going to have to review their guest policy.

* * *

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having people over?” Kurt snapped at Blaine after everyone had left, knowing even as he spoke that he was being harsh. “I’m sorry-” he sighed, noting Blaine’s alarmed expression. “The essay I’m working on is a pain. I’m not in a good mood.” _And I don’t like hearing about guys hitting on you._  He plunked himself down on the couch.

“I should have texted you a warning,” Blaine said apologetically, surprising Kurt. Usually Kurt being confrontational was met with Blaine looking like a kicked puppy. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

‘It’s- it’s not,” Kurt said feeling the fight drain out of him completely as he made eye contact with Blaine, knowing he was being a bit unfair. “I just didn’t expect anyone but you to be here, and it threw me off. Plus I have this awful paper…”

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s shoulders lightly. “I’ll be sure to tell you next time. It’s a reasonable thing to ask of anyone you live with, husband or not.” A smile tugged at the corner of Kurt’s mouth. “Now, since make up sex is off the table, how about I make you some dinner?”

Kurt laughed, ducking his heads in a fruitless attempt to hide his flaming cheeks. “As long as it’s a good dinner. If you make frozen pizza, I’m filing for divorce.”

Blaine gasped in mock horror. “Anything but that!”

They sat on the couch. sides pressed together, for a long moment before Blaine put a hand on Kurt’s leg. “Okay, I’m getting up now. And I’m thinking chicken pesto?”

Blaine stood up, turning to look at Kurt. “You spoil me.”

“Just fulfilling my husbandly duties,” Blaine chimed with a teasing grin.

“I’m banishing you to the kitchen until you’re done making my dinner,” Kurt laughed. Blaine stood motionless for a minute, only moving when Kurt pointed to the kitchen, still smiling. “Go!”

* * *

 

“Kurt!” Blaine called from the living room. “Come on, we need to get these done,” Kurt jumped guiltily, closing his laptop.

“Do we have to?” he asked, entering the living room. “Are you sure we can’t just use the fill in the blank thank you cards? Why do we even have to thank them for presents? They should be thanking us for inviting them to our wedding.”

“It certainly seemed to be some of their lifelong dreams to see us be wedded in holy matrimony.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, heart twinging a bit at the reminder of some of the speeches and congratulations. “Don’t remind me,” he sank down on the couch next to Blaine, staring at the mound of wedding gifts.

“We never actually registered for gifts. I bet half of them are duplicates or things we don’t need.”

“What’s wrong with a good old Amazon giftcard?” Kurt moaned.

Blaine chuckled. “I don’t think half of my relatives even know what Amazon is, let alone that you can get giftcards.”

Kurt let his head fall back on the couch. He sighed. “Okay, I’ll open them, you write the cards?”

“How’s that fair!” Blaine protested, pulling the cards towards himself as he spoke.

“Your handwriting is prettier,” Kurt insisted. “Besides, I won’t be whizzing through the presents, I’ll help you with the wording on them.” He let his head roll towards Blaine. “We can switch when you get tired.”

“Slave driver,” Blaine teased.

“My evil scheme worked,” Kurt reached for a present with shiny gold wrapping.

“Evil scheme?”

“Yeah, the one where I tricked you into marrying me.” Kurt slit the card open, missing the smile that spread across Blaine’s face. “Becca Shiller?”

“Cousin.”

* * *

When Kurt arrived at work mid-morning on Thursday, it was to find a giant bouquet of flowers on his desk with a smaller bouquet of cookies next to it. Kurt’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Now I understand why you married him,” Chase said dryly, walking by.

Kurt ignored him, heart fluttering at the sight of the beautiful mix of flowers. Sitting down at his desk, he picked up the card propped up on the vase.

_Dear Husband,_

_Happy Valentine’s Day!_

_Love,_

_Blaine_

_xoxo_

Kurt cringed. Somehow he’d completely forgotten about Valentine’s Day. Probably because his perpetual singledom combined with Blaine serenading Jeremiah at the Gap instead of him all those years ago had made him try to block it out every year.

Kurt grinned despite himself, making a mental note to buy Blaine a card on his way home. Maybe a box of chocolates as well.

He allowed himself to stare at the flowers for another minute before deciding it was time to dig into his work. Pulling out his phone, he quickly took a picture of the bouquets. He sent the picture to Blaine, adding the caption “Everyone’s jealous!” at the bottom and then quickly posted it on Instagram, tagging Blaine and merely adding a heart.

“Kurt?” Isabelle called from her office, startling Kurt as he quickly stuck his phone in a drawer.

“Yeah?” he called back, turning towards her door once his phone was away.

“We need to have a little pow-wow before the meeting,” she said as Kurt headed towards her office. “I’m also going to require one of those cookies Blaine gave you,” she added with a wink.

Kurt laughed turning back to his desk for a cookie, “As long as you let me leave a little early to find something extra,” - aka an _entire_ present- “for Blaine.”

“Deal,” she laughed. “It’s not like we pay you anyways.”

* * *

Kurt saved his work, and turned off his laptop when he heard Blaine enter the apartment around six that night. He listened as Blaine’s bag hit the floor, followed by his shoes thudding down next to it. He’d left a lamp on in the living room to draw Blaine’s attention before he headed off to the kitchen for a snack like he normally did.

There was a momentary silence and then- “Kurt?” Kurt sucked in a breath before standing up and joining Blaine in the living room, where he was staring at the presents on the coffee table. “What’s all this?” Kurt fidgeted nervously, doubting himself a for a second. Should he not have gotten Blaine anything? Blaine looked up at him, a delighted little smile crossing his face. “Are these for me?”

“Yes,” Kurt laughed, forcing aside his doubts and channeling his self-confidence. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Blaine slowly sank down on the couch, Kurt hesitating for a moment before joining him.

Blaine continued to just stare at the presents, Kurt missing the awed look on his face because he was too busy staring at them as well. “You better like them, because I spent far too long trying to wrap that heart shaped box,” he attempted to tease.

It seemed to have an effect on Blaine because he finally reached for a present, a pleased smile on his face. “Aww a heart shaped box filled with chocolates,” he cooed, nudging Kurt’s shoulder. “How creative.”

“Shut up,” Kurt laughed, trying to stop his blush from spreading. “That’s rich coming from the guy who sent me flowers.”

“There were cookies too!” Blaine protested.

“Shut up and open the other present.”

“Pushy!” Blaine laughed, reaching for the box. “Ooo what’d you get me?” he asked, shaking the box.

“You’re going to break it!” Kurt scolded.

“Okay, okay,” he put the box down, flipping it over and carefully unwrapping it. He pulled the box out, opening it to reveal a bowtie with a heart pattern. “I couldn’t have broken this,” he said absentmindedly while he ran his fingers over the fabric.

Kurt glanced between Blaine and bowtie, “It was half off and I thought you might want another to add to your collection.”

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s knee. “Thank you, Kurt.”

* * *

A few days after Valentine’s Day, Kurt walked into the apartment, shaking snow off his bag and annoyed that he was home an hour later than he’d planned. “I know it’s my turn to cook, but I’m ordering pizza,” Kurt called.

“Well hello to you too,” Blaine said, entering the hall.

Kurt glanced down at Blaine’s pajama bottoms, unlacing his boots. “You’re in _pajamas_ and I got stuck working late in the library on a stupid project. And it’s _snowing_. _Again_.” He griped. He finally managed to get his boots off, straightening up as he unbuttoned his jacket. “But hello Blaine, how are you this evening?”

Blaine laughed. “I’ll order the pizza okay? You go warm up.” Blaine grabbed Kurt’s jacket from him, holding his hand out for his scarf. “Hawaiian?”

“Any chance we can go to Hawaii and eat it?” Kurt asked, voice lilting upwards hopefully.

Blaine pulled him into a brief hug, kissing his cheek lightly before pushing him gently down the hall. “Go change!”

* * *

Kurt’s phone buzzed, a welcome interruption from homework.

**Rachel:** I’m sleeping over tonight.

He sighed.

A new message appeared.

 **Rachel:** I’ll be there in a half hour.

Kurt stood up, blanket falling to the floor while he texted her back.

 **Kurt:** What’s wrong?

 **Rachel:** I’ll explain when I get there

Kurt let his phone fall onto the couch before heading to his room. “Blaine!” he called as he went. There was a thud followed by a curse. “You okay in there?” Kurt asked as he threw the contents of his nightstand into a bag along with pajamas and an outfit for tomorrow.

“‘m fine! You startled me and I dropped my textbook,” he called back. “What’s up?”

Kurt knocked on Blaine’s door before entering the room, bag slung over his shoulder.

“Rachel’s sleeping over tonight, so I’m bunking with you.”

Blaine took his reading glasses off and rubbed one of his eyes. “I’m not going to get these notes done tonight, am I?”

“I won’t be _that_ much of a distraction,” Kurt jokingly flirted back.

Blaine laughed, snapping his textbook shut. “Did she say why she had a sudden hankering to sleepover on a weeknight?”

Kurt couldn’t help but smile at how relaxed Blaine was despite the impending disruption.

“She didn’t say,” he sighed, unloading his stuff. “She texted me saying she’d be here in a half hour and would explain then.”

Blaine raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like another fight with Santana.”

“Probably,” Kurt shrugged, shutting the nightstand drawer. “I’m honestly surprised they haven’t torn each other apart yet.”

“It’s barely been a month,” Blaine shrugged noncommittally as Kurt flopped back onto the bed. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before Blaine interrupted, diving onto the bed next to him.

Once Blaine had settled, Kurt rolled over to face him, putting a pillow under his head. “Are you going to come hang out when she gets here?”

Blaine wiggled closer, groping behind him before throwing a blanket on top of them.

“She’s just going to want to talk to _you_ and I have textbook reading to do,” Blaine pouted. “Plus, it’s so nice and warm here,” he said, tugging the blanket around himself more securely as though Kurt needed the added visual effect.

“No one _actually_ does all the textbook reading Blaine,” he tried to explain, struggling not to melt under Blaine’s gaze. Although truth be told, Rachel probably _would_ want to just talk to Kurt after a while.

“ _I_ do all the reading. I’m not just anyone, Kurt Hummel,” he teased. He snuck an arm around Kurt’s waist, pulling him closer. Kurt’s breath froze in his lungs for a moment. “I mean, I’m your _husband_ , I make you breakfast all the time, I don’t take pictures of you marathoning TV shows, I only snuck into the bathroom one time while you were showering to record you singi- ahh!” he shrieked.

_Thud._

“Ow,” came Blaine’s muffled voice.

Kurt burst out laughing so hard he almost rolled off the other side of the bed.

“ _Mean_.” Kurt heard Blaine say from the floor, as he regained control of his breathing.

“That’ll teach you not to sneak into the bathroom while I’m showering.”

There was a knock on their front door, causing Kurt to look at the clock, frowning. “Rachel needs to learn how to tell time. That was _not_ a half hour.”

Blaine got up from the floor, holding a hand out to Kurt. “Come on, let’s go,” he said, making grabby hands at Kurt.

There was another knock on the door, and Kurt grabbed onto Blaine’s hand. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

The moment Kurt opened the door, Rachel stomped inside.”I hate her,” she declared, handing her bag to Blaine before taking her coat and hat off. “Why did I ever decide to let her be my friend?”

“What’d she do?” Kurt asked, repressing a sigh as Blaine moved to put Rachel’s bag in the guest room. Kurt took a seat on the couch so that Rachel could pace and rage without him getting in the way.

“She met a girl in her dance class,” Rachel explained as Blaine reentered the room, immediately heading for the kitchen. “Apparently they’ve decided to try the friends with benefits thing because she’s always at the loft now. I’ve overheard them having sex at least three times this week. I haven’t even formally met her!”

“Did you talk to her about it?” Blaine asked, exiting the kitchen and joining Kurt on the couch.

“Yes!” Rachel practically shrieked, hands on hips. “I told her that she couldn’t have guests over so often unless she had my approval. And then she just laughed!”

“I’m sure she just-” Blaine tried to placate before stopping abruptly when Kurt kicked him. “Would you like some tea?” he asked instead, glaring at Kurt. “I started heating some water.”

“That would be lovely,” Rachel beamed. As Blaine got up to finish making it, Rachel perched on the couch next to Kurt. “Your husband is so polite, Kurt.” She patted his knee while Kurt tried not to roll his eyes.

“My number one requirement,” he quipped.

“It’s too bad he didn’t turn out to be bi,” Rachel sighed. “We would have had quite the whirlwind romance.”

“You’re dating Finn!” Kurt exclaimed, jealousy flashing through him. “I’ll tell him you’re trying to make a move on my husband,” he threatened.

Rachel laughed, leaning against his shoulder. “I’m just saying, you lucked out.”

“Who lucked out?” Blaine asked, re-entering the living room with two mugs of tea.

“Kurt.”

“Did he now?” Blaine asked, settling down in a chair.

“Yes,” Rachel said primly. “He married a gentleman.”

Blaine blushed. “If one of us lucked out, it was me,” he glanced shyly at Kurt before returning his focus to Rachel.

“See! He just proved my point,” she said to Kurt. “Thank you, Blaine.”

“Rachelll,” Kurt whined.

Blaine rolled his eyes, standing up. “I’m going to leave you two to talk. I have some homework to finish up.”

* * *

To Kurt’s relief, sometime around eleven Rachel decided it was time for bed. Kurt loved Rachel a lot, but there was only so much complaining about Santana that he could handle in one sitting. Plus, he didn’t want to lose out on the extra sleep Tuesday nights typically provided him.

Entering Blaine’s room, he found Blaine already curled up in bed, book in hand.

“Time for bed?” Blaine asked, looking up as Kurt walked in.

“Yeah,” Kurt replied, a smile flitting across his face at how nestled in Blaine was. He gathered his pajamas before heading back out to the bathroom.

Halfway to the door he came to a halt. “What’s up?” Blaine asked, eyebrows raised when he didn’t move.

Kurt turned around, rolling his eyes at himself. “I just realized I should probably change in here in case I run into Rachel out there.”

Blaine laughed, “I promise not to wolf whistle when you take your shirt off.”

Kurt stuck his tongue out before walking over to the dresser. “I would hope that you learned your lesson _last_ time you did that.”

“I said I was sorry!” Blaine protested. “Okay, okay,” he relented at Kurt’s raised eyebrow. “I’m reading my book.”

Kurt watched as he very deliberating put the book _really_ close to his face. Smiling, Kurt changed into his pajamas.

After a trip to the bathroom, Kurt returned to the bedroom to find Blaine closing his book.

Kurt gestured at it, “Did you finish your notes?” he asked, walking to his side of the bed.

“Yup!” Blaine rolled over to face Kurt as he joined him. “I had to crank some music to block most of your conversation out. I may have shortened the lifespan of my ears, but it did help me focus on note-taking. Hence _Gone With the Wind_.”

Kurt turned onto his side, facing Blaine. “I didn’t get any homework done, but as much as I hate all the complaints about Santana that were involved, it was rather nice to catch up with Rachel.”

Blaine beamed. “I’m glad. This whole mov- Hey!” he exclaimed pulling his legs away from Kurt. “I am not your personal footwarmer, mister.”

“I thought the guest was always supposed to come first?” Kurt asked innocently.

“I didn’t realize it was _that_ kind of visit,” Blaine said with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows before he burst out laughing.

Kurt turned pink. “ _Blaine!_ ” he shrieked, shoving Blaine’s pillow in his face. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Truce! Truce!” Blaine said around his laughter. “I had to. I’m sorry.”

Kurt pulled the pillow off his face, but continued glaring.

Blaine sighed. “You can put your feet back.” He rolled his eyes, “I _did_ implicitly accept that duty when I agreed to marry you.”

Shuffling his feet over to Blaine’s calves again, Kurt yawned. “I married you for your money and your warm calves.”

“You had my warm calves even when we _weren’t_ married,” Blaine said fondly, turning out his light.

“I won myself a year of guaranteed first dibs to your calves though. I didn’t have that when we weren’t married.”

“I knew it!” Blaine declared, faux dramatic. “You married me for my body.”

Kurt giggled, rolling over onto his back. “Every week you’re making a new claim about why I married you.”

Blaine’s laugh died out and the air grew more serious. “I still can’t believe you actually did it.”

Kurt shrugged, an attempt at nonchalance. “You’d do the same for me.”

“Mmm,” there was a rustle of sheets and the mattress moved under Kurt. “That doesn’t stop me from being a little shocked that you actually did it. _Saying_ I would do the same for you is very different than actually doing it.”

Kurt pulled his feet back to his side of the bed, the contact a little too much for their conversation. “I guess that’s true.”

The silence stretched between them for several minutes before Blaine rolled over, yawing. “Goodnight, Kurt.”

“Goodnigh’.”

* * *

At 5:30 the next morning, Kurt woke with a start to the sound of Rachel singing loudly in the shower, followed by Blaine sitting bolt upright in bed.

“ _Why?_ ” Blaine groaned, falling back into his pillows. Kurt merely covered his head with his pillow, unfortunately used to being woken up this way. “We’re soundproofing the place before she sleeps over again.”

Kurt lifted his arm off his pillow to give Blaine a thumbs up. In return, Blaine grabbed his hand, kissing it lightly before he swung his legs out of bed. “I’m going to get started on my day I guess.”

Five minutes later, after he heard the bedroom door close behind Blaine, Kurt rolled over. He stared up at the ceiling. He was _so close_ to having the relationship he’d always dreamed of having with Blaine. But he’d never been so far from actually having it. And it was probably time to let go of the idea.

 


	9. Anniversary

“So,” Rachel started to ask a few days later, as the two of them exited their dance class. “Do you and Blaine have any plans for your one month anniversary?”

Kurt almost stopped walking. He’d completely forgotten that was this week. “I should ask him about that.”

“You and Blaine, captains of dreaming up romance, don’t have plans!?” she asked in surprise.

“We’ve been busy,” Kurt sighed, as Rachel hooked her arm through his. “The wedding just happened and we have school. I hadn’t thought about it. I’ll make reservations somewhere.”

“Ooo, there’s this little restaurant on 46th Street that looks like such a cute date spot. It’s a little pricey but-”

“Text me the name of it?” he asked, pulling away from her as he reached his next class.

“Okay!” she replied cheerily. “Let me know how it is so I can make Finn take me there next time he’s in town.”

Kurt laughed, skeptical that Finn would have the same taste in date spots as them,  “Okay.”

He pulled his phone out to text Blaine.

 **Kurt:** Dinner date for our anniversary next week? Rachel recommended a place

He only had to wait a few minutes for a response, settling down in his seat for his next class as he did so.

 **Blaine:** Sure thing!

 **Blaine:** Does it make me a bad husband that I’d forgotten it was going to be our one month anniversary?

 **Blaine:** I feel like a bad husband

Kurt laughed, a little relieved that he wasn’t the only one forgetting things like that. He quickly texted back before pulling his notes out: _It apparently puts you in the majority as far as our relationship is concerned._

* * *

Their anniversary was on Tuesday, which, because of  classes and work meant that it made more sense for them to meet at the restaurant instead of getting ready at the apartment together beforehand. That’s how Kurt found himself drumming his fingers impatiently on a nice white table cloth. Despite all of his panic about showing up late and rushing through getting ready at NYADA after a dance rehearsal, he’d shown up ten minutes early.

Three rounds of Candy Crush later, and Blaine walked up to the table right on time.

Kurt smiled, putting his phone back in his pocket while giving Blaine’s outfit an approving nod. Blaine sat down and Kurt opened the menu for him. “Figure out what you want to eat because I’m starving. I forgot how taxing dance rehearsals could be.”

* * *

"Why do you do that?" Kurt asked, staring across the dinner table at Blaine a while later once they’d gotten their food, finally taking in the suit and adorable bowtie he’d chosen for their anniversary dinner.

"Do what?" Blaine asked, looking up from his plate.

"That," Kurt laughed, gesturing at his hands. "You cut up your pizza into tiny bite size pieces, but only when we go out to eat."

"Oh," Blaine glanced down at his hands, setting down his silverware before looking up at Kurt. "It's a habit I picked up when I got my tonsils out and had to eat tiny sized bites of food and was really craving pizza. I guess I kind of just continued doing it in public because it saved me from getting my hands greasy or making a fool of myself by dragging all the cheese off while trying to get one bite."

"Why don't you do it at home then?"

"Well, I do if I'm eating at the dinner table, but usually we just get pizza and curl up with a movie, and if I tried to cut it there I'd just end up sending pizza flying everywhere. And, well, I'm fairly certain you'd just kick me out of the apartment if I did that," Blaine teased.

"I would not," Kurt scoffed.

"Okay, you'd probably make me clean it up and _then_ kick me out."

"Oh my _god_ ,” Kurt laughed, “I would not Blaine. I'd make you clean it up - not that you wouldn’t automatically do that anyway - and then pretend to be upset for three seconds before pulling out the catalog that I've been saving because I've been wanting to replace that area rug since you got it and I found the _perfect_ one."

"You're completely ridiculous," Blaine laughed, a twinkle in his eyes as he resumed eating his pizza.

"Says the man who decided to surprise me with tickets to a Broadway show," Kurt deadpanned.

"It's our anniversary!" Blaine exclaimed indignantly.

"Our _one month_ 'wedding' anniversary," Kurt said using air quotes when he reached the word "wedding."

"Are you telling me you don't like my attempts to celebrate our love?" Blaine asked, fluttering his eyelashes at him. "Because when Santana overheard my conversation with Rachel about it she suggested that I just forget about the date and, well, let's just say that it's not an appropriate thing to repeat in public. Or ever really. Your friends are crazy."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Well, Santana aside, whatever are you planning for our six month anniversary Mr. Warbler? Because you've already set the bar fairly high."

"I can't tell you my plans," Blaine gasped in mock horror, "that would spoil the surprise."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure if you'll ever be able to surprise me as much as you did that time you asked me to marry you when we weren't even _dating_."

"Mmm, that's worked out rather well hasn't it," Blaine smirked, although Kurt could see a glimmer of worry in his eyes.

Kurt reached his hand out to grab Blaine's, a little surprised at how easily the action came to him. "Somehow it's worked out surprisingly well. I honestly couldn't ask for a better husband. Although I do wish you'd keep the singing to a minimum when you get up before I do."

"That is a minimum," Blaine insisted. "I _know_ I’m not as bad as Rachel in the morning."

"Well, _that's_ certainly true. I love her voice, but I do not miss waking up to it every morning at 5am when she started her vocal runs. I swear, having her stay over last week gave me horrifying flashbacks. Although that was definitely better than waking up to her and Brody making other noises."

Blaine laughed loudly. "Did I ever mention how glad I am that I was able to get an apartment with no roommates?"

"Is that a hint? Do you want me to move out?" Kurt challenged teasingly.

"What?" Blaine asked, blanching before realizing Kurt was messing with him. "Well, I mean if you want to..." he smiled for a moment before his eyes took on a more serious tone and he leaned across the table a little. "Honestly? Living with you so far has been wonderful. I was a little bit afraid at first that we'd suddenly find a ton of reasons to hate each other, or that we'd be fighting all the time because we'd be spending too much time together. But I haven’t started hating you yet." Kurt tried and failed to keep the delighted smile off his face as Blaine spoke. "Besides my singing in the shower when you're sleeping, and you being so busy that I sometimes have to force you to stop working and eat, I'd say it's going perfectly."

"I agree. It's going wonderfully. Much less of a transition than it was moving into the loft with Rachel and then having Santana join us."

Blaine nodded, returning his attention to his food, “Would it be weird if we kept living together after we get divorced?”

“Worried you’ll miss me?” Kurt teased, taking a bit of his food, mind whirring through hidden reasons for Blaine’s request, even as he tried to stop himself.

“A little bit, yeah,” Blaine said as though it were nothing. “Seeing you everyday is bringing me back to our Dalton days.”

Kurt cringed. “I can’t believe I lasted that long in a uniform.”

“I can’t believe the Warblers let me serenade a guy at the _Gap_ ,” Blaine laughed.

 _I can’t believe you weren’t serenading_ me, Kurt thought. “Well, the Warblers were all in love with you. For a while there I thought you might have hypnotized them all or something.”

Blaine coughed, some crumbs shooting out of his mouth as he grabbed for his glass of water. “You can’t just say things like that when I’m eating,” he said after gulping down some water, voice rough. He laughed, eyes a bit watery. “Besides, the existence of Wes should have automatically negated that theory.”

Smiling into his water, Kurt shrugged. “I was just trying to figure out how you managed to get all the solos. especially when you never had to fight for them. They were practically handed over.” Kurt held up a hand, cutting off what he assumed was going to be Blaine’s apology. “You were and are an amazing performer. I do get it. The Warblers were a conservative group back then and your voice is a good vocal fit for pretty much any top 40 song.”

“You deserved more from all of us,” Blaine said earnestly.

Uncertain how to respond, and unable to brush the comment off with a joke, Kurt fished for a way to change the subject. “At least you never threw fits when someone else wanted a solo. New Directions was a _battle_.”

“It did always surprise me that with all that talent, you guys would typically compete with only two or three people being showcased. Rachel’s an _amazing_ performer, but you guys had such a wide range of talents.”

Kurt glanced up at Blaine with a small smile on his face. “Schue wasn’t always the best teacher, but he did make sure we had a home no matter how toxic it could be sometimes.” Blaine raised an eyebrow. “Okay, okay,” Kurt acquiesced. “I do wish he’d spread solos around a bit more, especially in competitions, but I’ve made my peace with it. It didn’t stop me from getting into NYADA.”

“Speaking of NYADA, I need your help with some song choices,” Blaine said, seeming to pick up on Kurt’s desire to shift topics. “My voice teacher wants to pick one or two more to help round out my audition go-tos.”

* * *

Kurt was just leaving his final class of the day on Tuesday a few weeks later when his phone chimed with a new text.

**Blaine:** Want to come with me to Callbacks Friday night? Some of my friends are going and they’re complaining that they haven’t gotten to know you that well.

Kurt brushed his thumb across the screen lightly. He had a busy weekend ahead of himself, particularly with a group project to work on, but he could probably squeeze in a few hours at Callbacks.

His phone chimed again.

 **Blaine:** It’ll be fun! I promise to sing at least one duet with you and I won’t get drunk and try to grope you again.

Kurt laughed.

 **Kurt:** Ok, you have yourself a deal

 **Blaine:** =D

* * *

On Thursday, it became clear that Kurt was not in fact going to be able to go to Callbacks.

Class had ended ten minutes ago, but Kurt was stuck in Professor Dunlap’s classroom debating with his group mates about when they would work on their project.

“I’m gone all weekend! I can’t do Sunday night. I get back _Monday_ ,” Victoria repeated. “You guys can do the project without me if you really want to and fill me in later, but I’m not cancelling this trip.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. This was why he had wanted to work on it during the week. But of course, everyone had insisted that they couldn’t move anything in their schedules to find a meeting time, so here they were; last minute and struggling to make things work.

“Well I can’t do tonight,” Matt declared. “It’s my six month anniversary and I can’t cancel those plans.”

“I have class in twenty minutes,” Andrew added, “So now’s out. And I have work tomorrow from nine until four thirty.”

“I promised my husband he could have my Friday night,” Kurt decided to say, despite the fact that he could already feel his chances of going to Callbacks with Blaine slipping through his fingers.

“Well,” Martha said, throwing her hands up in the air. “ _Someone_ is going to have cancel something because we need to get this project done, and we can’t do it all Monday or Tuesday morning.”

“Why not?” Matt asked. “We just have to write a stupid script and memorize it. It’s not like we really have to rehearse it much. We’re all actors.”

Martha folded her arms. “I am not playing that fast and loose with my grades. We are meeting before Monday to get most of this done and then rehearsing on Monday so Dunlap doesn’t give us a terrible grade.”

Victoria sighed. “Fine. If Friday night works for people, I can take the eleven o’clock train. But,” she warned. “I will not be guilted into missing my train. If I have to leave before it’s done, you can send it to me electronically and I’ll edit on the train or something.”

“Okay,” Andrew agreed while Matt nodded along.

“Kurt?” Martha asked in a tone that suggested if he said no his head might be ripped off.

He sighed, his stomach filling with disappointment. “Whatever,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I’ll tell Blaine I need a raincheck on our plans. If his friends hate me after this though,” he threatened, “I will direct them all to you guys.”

* * *

“Okay, so I’ll see you later tonight?” Kurt said carefully, not wanting to set off an already sulky Blaine.

“Sure,” he grunted in response.

Kurt glanced back at Blaine, who was sitting on the couch, staring resolutely at the car commercial playing on the TV. He opened his mouth to say something - anything - that might make Blaine at least _talk_ to him about this but drew a blank. He shrugged it off, pulling the door open. It would sort itself out. Whatever ‘it’ was. “Bye!” he called, stepping through the door.

Just before he pulled the door closed behind him, he heard Blaine call out a goodbye, and a little bit of the tension drained out of him. Blaine was probably just surly because he’d had a long week.

* * *

By the time they finished working, it was nearing midnight - Victoria having bailed on them over an hour ago. They all packed up their things, congratulating each other on a job well done, before stepping out the library doors.

Kurt sighed, pulling his coat around himself more tightly, hands shoved into his pockets as he stood under the protective roof above the door. _Of course_ it was pouring out. Just his luck. The nearest subway station that would get him home quickly was five blocks away.

He dawdled in the entryway as Martha and Matt each made a break for it. They were either braver than Kurt, or they didn’t have to travel as far as he did.

“You can stay at my place tonight if you want,” Andrew offered as Kurt glared at the torrential downpour. “My dorm’s right over there,” he said, pointing a few buildings over, “and my roommate’s gone for the weekend.”

Kurt, who had been ready to agree, raised an eyebrow at the last bit. Andrew looked confused for a moment before seeming to understand what he had implied. He let out a laugh, eyes glinting. “Not like that,” he assured Kurt, putting a hand on his arm - which was kind of the opposite of reassuring. “I meant that you could sleep in his bed instead of the floor.”

Kurt considered it, staring out at the rain. “I could just grab a cab from here.”

“Oh come on, in this weather? From a school?” Andrew said, looking at him incredulously. “This late on a Friday night?” The shadows darkening his face disappeared as Andrew turned to face him more fully. “If you’d rather just go back to your place, that’s fine, no offense taken,” he continued sincerely. “But it could be fun? We could watch a movie and hangout before crashing?”

Kurt mulled it over. He did actually enjoy spending time with Andrew, and he _did_ keep telling himself that the more friends he made at NYADA the better - both for his career and his social life in general. Plus, Blaine was out with his friends.

“Sure,” Kurt agreed. “No horror movies though.”

Andrew laughed, gesturing towards hi building and taking a step into the rain. “I was thinking a romantic comedy, or pretty much anything that won’t make me terrified of small noises.” Kurt hurried to follow after him as he walked. “Perhaps a musical?”

* * *

Once he’d gotten to Andrew’s and had hastily thrown on the t-shirt and pajama bottoms Andrew had handed to him, Kurt texted Blaine.

**Kurt:** Spending the night at Andrew’s! See you around lunch time?

He looked up from his phone when Andrew entered the room, bowl of popcorn in one hand. “Ready for the movie, Hummel?” he asked, settling on the bed and leaning against the wall next to Kurt.

“What’d you pick?” Kurt asked, setting his phone down next to him, glancing at it briefly to see if he had somehow missed an incoming text from Blaine.

Andrew picked up a blanket and threw it over the two of them. “I’m in a _Wizard of Oz_ mood.”

Kurt tucked the blanket around himself. “It’s always a _Wizard of Oz_ kind of day.”

* * *

When they went to bed a few hours later, Kurt still hadn’t heard back from Blaine.

 

 


	10. Fall Out

After eating breakfast in the dining hall with Andrew and a few of his friends, Kurt took the subway home.

“Good morning!” he called as he entered the apartment and saw movement in the kitchen.

No response.

“Blaine?” he called again, taking his boots off.

He headed for the kitchen, wondering why it was so dark in there. He could see Blaine’s empty, unmade, bed so it had to be Blaine. He walked through the doorway to find Blaine staring fixedly at the coffee pot. His hair was a mess and he only had one sock on.

“...Blaine?” he asked again, uncertainly.

“Shh,” Blaine grumbled. “Your voice is too loud.”

Kurt blinked. “Oh my god,” he said in sudden realization. “You’re hungover!”

Blaine winced at the sound of his voice.

“Okay sweetie,” Kurt said, speaking more quietly now. “You take this,” he filled a glass of water as he spoke before handing it to Blaine, “Go sit in the living room and I’ll make you some pancakes.”

“Coffee?”

“Maybe later. I don’t care that everyone claims it’s a hangover cure. It dehydrates you more and doesn’t fix the headache.”

Blaine shuffled closer to the coffeemaker, grumbling.

“Nope.” Kurt grabbed Blaine’s shoulders, pulling him away. “Go,” he pointed to the door. “I’m going to start making lots of noise and you don’t want to be anywhere near that.”

Blaine left with a sigh, and Kurt turned his attentions to cooking. As he did so, he wondered why Blaine had apparently gotten so drunk. When Blaine had invited him to join them, he’d mentioned the two of them hanging out afterwards. Hanging out that presumably didn’t include throwing up or bemoaning future hangovers.

He sighed. At least Blaine seemed to physically be okay.

* * *

Just as he was finishing up the pancakes and a side of bacon, putting them on a tray for Blaine, their intercom rang.

Kurt heard Blaine’s responding moan, but didn’t hear him get up. He sighed, picking up the tray. Blaine was always a bit of a pain when he got sick.

Depositing the tray in front of Blaine, who was wrapped up in a blanket like a sad burrito, Kurt continued on to the door. He pushed the speak button on the intercom. “Hello?” he asked.

“Good morning,” came a crisp professional female voice. “This is Janet. I’m here for a check in.”

Setting aside the panicked flutter in his chest, Kurt hit “door” on the intercom, letting Janet inside. When he looked over to Blaine, he expected to see him at least looking _nervous_ about the visit. Instead Kurt was apparently alone in his freak out.

Instead of at least attempting to make himself look presentable, Blaine had freed a hand from his blanket nest, and was grabbing a pancake.

Kurt swallowed his annoyance, instead taking Blaine’s empty water glass to the kitchen for a refill while he waited for Janet to arrive. With any luck, the lawyer would take one look at Blaine and leave.

He had no such luck.

When she entered the apartment, her eyes immediately landed on Blaine, who froze, pancake halfway to his mouth.

He winced as Janet snapped the door shut behind her. She raised an eyebrow, “What happened here?” Looking him up and down she seemed to find her answer. “Ah. Hangover.” She turned her attention over to Kurt. “You seem far to put together to have been out with your husband last night.”

Blaine put the pancake back on the plate, forcing himself to sit up. “It’s nice to see you too,” he said sarcastically.

Janet took her boots off, handing her coat to Kurt before sitting down in one of their armchairs.

“How are you two doing?” she asked, as Kurt hung up her coat with a roll of his eyes.

Blaine seemed to have pulled himself together a little, because when he answered, his voice had turned polite and a forced friendly. “I’d be doing better if I hadn’t decided to spend last night reminding myself why I try not to drink so much. In general though? I’m doing well, and our marriage has been smooth sailing.”

Sighing internally, because he likely wouldn’t have the chance to change until after Janet left, Kurt sat down next to Blaine, settling an arm behind him on the couch. “And you?” she asked, eyeing Kurt next.

Kurt shrugged. “I’ve been busy a lot with school and work, but I’d say things are going pretty well between us.” Blaine leaned into his side, and Kurt kissed his head lightly before looking back up at Janet. “Is that it?”

“No.” She leaned forward in her seat. “I need to take a quick tour of the place once we’re done talking, but first I need to know what I walked in on this morning.”

Blaine pulled the blankets around himself more tightly. Kurt sighed, reminding himself that lies were strongest when they were built on the truth. “We had plans to go out with some of his friends last night, but I had to cancel because of a group project.”

“So I went out with my friends anyway,” Blaine added on for him. “And Kurt worked on his group project and then stayed over at his friend's apartment.”

“What compelled you to drink so much?” Janet asked, tone friendly for once.

Blaine burrowed closer to Kurt. “I lost track of how many drinks I had. It wasn’t really a conscious choice,” he said. It came out sounding honest, but Kurt was fairly certain he wasn’t imaging the way Blaine’s eyes refused to focus on anything or anyone. Interesting.

Janet raised an eyebrow but seemed to decide against pressing the issue any further. “All right,” she said, standing up. “I’m going to take a look around before I head back out.”

When she left twenty minutes later, Kurt knew he should ask Blaine more about last night and what the hell had happened. But by that point, Blaine’s hangover had faded somewhat and he was acting more like his usual self. So Kurt didn’t ask. Instead, he told himself that he’d been making it all up in his head - Blaine wasn’t upset, and he’d told the truth to Janet about why he’d had so much to drink.

Besides, asking questions might lead to things Kurt didn’t want to deal with.

* * *

Kurt was cruising through his homework the following Sunday night, when a loud shout from the hall halted him mid-sentence.

“You okay?” he called through the door to Blaine who was now cursing.

“If you just put your boots on the mat instead of in _the middle of the walkway_ I would be!” Blaine snapped back.

Annoyance shot through him, but he bit back on a retort. Blaine had been pissy all week, it clearly wasn’t the boots that were the problem. “Sorry!” he called back instead. “I was rushing to get something sent to my professor on time and forgot.”

Kurt heard Blaine stomp into his room and back out again. He was about to go back to his work, hoping Blaine’s mood would subside if he was left alone for a bit, when he heard Blaine grumble, “roommates,” as he stomped back to his room. His stomach knotted, worry battling with hurt and anger, while his brain tried to make him think it through rationally. Blaine was just _crabby_. He’d get over it, and in the mean time Kurt would try to remember not to leave his shoes in front of the door; he didn’t want to have to take Blaine to the hospital because he’d tripped over them and needed stitches or something.

* * *

After finally managing to fall asleep the following night, Kurt was startled awake by something heavy settling onto his bed. He blinked, trying to focus his eyes on the lump next to him, the sounds of the storm outside loud against the window. “Blaine?” he finally asked nervously, hoping the breathing he was hearing wasn’t a murderer.

“Mmm?” came a responding hum from the blanket bundle next to him.

Kurt took a breath, willing his heart to calm down. “What are you doing?”

“‘m cold,” Blaine responded, finally peeking his head out.

For the first time, Kurt noticed that it was incredibly cold in the apartment. He tugged the blankets more firmly around himself. “Why don’t you just turn up the heat?” Kurt asked, bemused.

“Power’s out,” Blaine pouted. “I think the storm must’ve screwed something up. Can I stay?”

Kurt pulled his arm out from under the covers to check the time on his phone. Three seventeen. Great. He yawned. “Join me under the covers and toss yours over us.”

Blaine quickly complied, and once he was settled, Kurt rolled over to go back to sleep again. Blaine of course, had other plans.

“Get your cold toes away from me!” Kurt shrieked moments later.

He could practically hear the pout in Blaine’s voice. “But they’re cold and your legs are _warm_.”

“What happened to the fuzzy socks I gave you for just such an occasion?” Kurt sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

“They came off while I was sleeping. Besides, I let you warm your feet up on me.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, too sleepy to really be angry. “At least come cuddle closer then. If I’m in charge of warming up your feet, then you’re in charge of making sure I don’t get cold.”

“Deal,” Blaine said, shifting closer until he could spoon Kurt. He nuzzled the back of Kurt’s neck with his cold nose, causing Kurt to kick at him.

“Hey!” Blaine said in surprise.

“Keep your cold nose off my neck!” Kurt laughed in response.

“Oh,” Blaine said dumbly. Kurt froze as Blaine placed a soft apology kiss on the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

Kurt let out a nervous laugh. “It’s fine.” There was silence between them, the only noise in the room the muffled storm outside. “Goodnight Blaine.”

“G’night Kurt,” Blaine replied quietly, breath puffing gently on the back of Kurt’s neck.

It took a long time for Kurt to fall back asleep.

* * *

“Hey,” Kurt tried to ignore Blaine as he sat on the far end of the couch watching Game of Thrones that afternoon. He’d rolled out of bed once the power had kicked back on and brought the apartment back up to a normal temperature. After spending most of his morning in the city, trying to avoid the feelings that had come back with a vengeance last night, he’d decided what he really needed was a couch and a TV show. “ _Kurt_ ,” Blaine prodded him with his foot.

Kurt sighed, finally looking over at Blaine who somehow managed to simultaneously look puffed up with annoyance and adorable. “Yes?”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No,” Kurt answered shortly, turning back to the TV.

He heard Blaine sigh and continued to stare straight at the TV. He _really_ did not want to talk.

“Okay… Are you upset about something else then?”

“I’m just…” Kurt sighed. “I don’t really want to talk about it. I just need to watch some TV and be by myself.”

Blaine squeezed his knee, apparently accepting Kurt’s answer, before standing up and heading towards his bedroom. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it then.” Kurt continued to stare at the TV, barely flinching as a character died, willing Blaine to leave faster. “I’m around if you want to talk though.”

“I know,” Kurt said, forcing himself to shoot a smile at Blaine.

Blaine nodded. “Okay, I’ll just- I’ll be in my room.”

The moment the door closed, Kurt slumped backwards. How could he possibly explain to Blaine that he was upset about the fact that they weren’t _married_ married. It was his own damn fault for agreeing in the first place.

* * *

“So, how’s married life treating you?” Elliott asked over coffee the following week, during a break between Kurt's classes.

“Good,” Kurt shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee in hopes of avoiding this conversation. Lying to his classmates was one thing. Lying to his friends? That was a little bit more trying.

Elliott raised an eyebrow. “That’s all you have to say? You get together with your ‘Prince Charming’ - at least that’s what Rachel says - and all you’ll tell me is that it’s good?”

“It is good!” Kurt straightened up defensively. “He-”

“Are the two of you fighting?” Elliott interrupted. “You know that it’s okay if you are.”

“No,” Kurt immediately lied.

“Really?”

“Yes....” Kurt raised a defensive eyebrow. “What were you expecting?”

“You just… you don’t talk about him as much anymore?”

“Oh.” Well. That was certainly true. Kurt took a sip of coffee to buy himself some time, glancing around the coffeeshop. “I guess… I don’t know. I mean, we’re fighting a little bit. You know how rooming with someone can be.” Elliot nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything else. Kurt sighed to himself a little. Lying to his friends about this was harder than he’d expected, which was part of the reason he’d been trying to just… not talk about Blaine. ,“I’m also trying not to incessantly talk about my husband. It makes me- I have a _husband,_ ” he laughed. “It’s weird to think about. I mean, obviously I love him and everything but I’m twenty two and I have a husband. That is _insane_.”

“Then there’s me who can barely hold down a boyfriend for two months.”

“That’s what the whirlwind marriage is for,” Kurt winked. “Gotta get over that two month hump somehow.”

Elliott grinned, shaking his head. “Only you Kurt Hummel.”

* * *

“You know,” Blaine said, wandering into the kitchen on a Saturday morning a few days later, already dressed in his I’m-not-leaving-this-apartment sweatpants and a Warblers t-shirt that Kurt was fairly certain was _his_ once upon a time. He poured himself a cup of coffee. “I could get used to this.”

Kurt looked up from the email he was drafting, glancing around. “Used to what?” he finally asked, biting down on a quip about Blaine’s coffee addiction.

“Our 50’s themed marriage,” Blaine shrugged, settling down next to Kurt as though he hadn’t just decided their marriage had a _theme_.

He set his phone on the table and _stared_ at Blaine. He blinked. “Our _what?_ ”

“You know,” Blaine shrugged, clearly unconcerned by Kurt’s reaction. “Sleep in different beds, very limited public affection. The layers,” he added with a teasing tilt of his head at the four layers Kurt was currently wearing.

“It’s 35 degrees out and raining,” Kurt huffed indignantly. “I need more than a thin rain coat to survive out there.”

“That’s true,” Blaine admitted as Kurt headed for the closet. “But you definitely don’t need that many layers on inside.”

Kurt pulled his coat out of the closet before turning to raise an eyebrow at Blaine.

“Oh,” a disappointed look briefly crossed Blaine’s face and Kurt felt a little stab of guilt. They had barely spent any time together in the past few weeks. “You’re going out?”

“I need some fabric samples,” he said apologetically. “You can come with me if you want?” he offered tentatively.

“I can’t,” Blaine sighed. “I have an essay I promised myself I would write today.”

“I’ll tell you what; if we both get our work done by dinner, we’ll have a movie and junk food party, just the two of us.”

Blaine moaned, eyes lighting up, probably thinking of the brownies Kurt usually made when they did this. “It has been _far_ too long since we did that.”

* * *

Kurt was in the bathroom that evening when he heard his phone ring. At least he thought it was his phone. It certainly sounded like his specialized ringtone for Rachel (yes, she had her own ringtone because she just _had_ to have a special one), but then he heard Blaine answer it.

He froze, turning the faucet off quickly as Blaine’s voice floated through the door once more.

“Excuse me,” Blaine’s voice was pitched up in what Kurt suspected was supposed to be an imitation of himself. “Why would Blaine be picking up my phone? What would make you think that I’m not Kurt?”

Kurt snorted, opening the door to the bathroom, hands dry now.

From the sounds emanating out of the phone, Kurt could tell Rachel was going on a mini tirade. Blaine didn’t seem phased by it however, as he merely grinned at Kurt as he sat down. After a minute, during which Kurt started fiddling with the remote, looking pointedly from Blaine to the TV, Blaine interrupted Rachel. “Okay, okay, you caught me! I’m Blaine. Kurt can’t hang out though. He has a hot date. Bye!” and then, to Kurt’s astonishment, Blaine hung up the phone. Blaine never hung up on people. He wouldn’t even hang up on telemarketers.

“What’re we watching first?”

Kurt blinked. Okay then. “I was thinking we could catch up on some reality TV and then watch a movie,” Kurt said slowly, shooting a curious look at Blaine.

“Alright!” Blaine chirped. “I’ll grab the snacks.”

Kurt turned on the TV, selecting an episode of Say Yes to the Dress while Blaine rummaged through their kitchen. “You ready yet?” Kurt called, pulling his legs up onto the couch.

“I know that you’re all about moderation these days,” came Blaine’s muffled response, “but,” he entered the living room, a few boxes of cookies and a pizza box stacked in his arms with a big bowl of salad on top and brownies in his other hand. “Some of us are still hoping to grow a few inches and could use the extra calories.”

Kurt laughed. “You just keep on hoping, Sho-” he froze as Blaine put a finger to his lips.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

Blaine took his finger away.

“Am I at least allowed to press play?”

“Sure,” Blaine said, settling on the couch next to him. “Which show are we watching?”

“Say Yes to the Dress,” Kurt replied, amused by the way Blaine was fastidiously setting up the food. “It’s one of the new episodes.”

* * *

Kurt blinked his eyes open to find the living room dark, credits rolling on the screen. He yawned, moving his head carefully so as not to upset his already sore neck. Next to him, Blaine shifted in his sleep, tugging the blanket that covered the two of them closer to himself.

Kurt allowed himself one moment to run his eyes over Blaine’s peaceful face before gently shaking his shoulder. “Blaine? Blaine,” he whispered, voice loud in the quiet living room. Blaine stirred,mumbling something. “It’s time to move to your bed,” Kurt said, turning off the TV.

“Why?” Blaine groaned, burrowing into the warm spot Kurt had left behind. “Comfy.”

“You’re going to get a horrible crick in your neck if you sleep here,” Kurt coaxed gently. “Come on, I’ll help you get to your room.”

There was a loud sigh, followed by Blaine standing up, blanket wrapped tightly around him. “Fine,” he pouted, leaning against Kurt. “Just wanna sleep.”

“I know sweetheart,” Kurt said. “You’ll be much more comfortable in your bed though.”

“Mmm, okay,” Blaine replied as they slowly moved towards his room.

Once they had made it and Kurt had deposited Blaine on his bed, Blaine immediately moved under the covers, snuggling his pillow. “Love you,” he yawned.

Kurt paused at the door, looking back over his shoulder. “I love you too,” he said quietly.

The only response he got was quiet breathing. Blaine, apparently, had fallen right back to sleep.

* * *

_ Buzz buzz _

Kurt jumped off the couch, making a beeline for the intercom next to the apartment door.

“Come on up Andrew,” he said into the intercom, pushing the button to let him into the building. He moved back to the couch, nervously straightening the blanket on the back of it. Andrew was coming over to work on a scene because all the practice rooms were booked, and the dorms lacked space and privacy.

There was a knock at the door, and Kurt pushed his remaining nerves aside. Blaine had had people Kurt hadn’t known over to their place before, so it wasn’t like he was going against their rules or anything. Plus, he’d mentioned it to Blaine.

Kurt opened the door and was instantly met with a hug. “Hello Andrew,” Kurt laughed, still not entirely used to Andrew’s touch friendly ways.

“Hi Kurt!” They pulled apart and Kurt closed the door as Andrew stepped more fully into the apartment. “Ooo wow, this is a really nice place for two college students,” he commented, looking around.

Kurt glanced around as Andrew kicked off his boots and began unbuttoning his black coat. “I married rich,” he replied teasingly. “For some reason Blaine’s parents wanted him to have a two bedroom apartment, even when he was living alone.”

Kurt took Andrew’s jacket from him, opening up the front closet to hang it up. “Well, it’s a really spectacular place, and ooo,” Kurt looked behind him to see what hand caught Andrew’s attention. “I _love_ that chair.” He pointed to the chair Kurt had constructed out of an old car seat. “Is that from a car?” he asked, approaching it curiously.

Kurt blushed, but raised his head proudly, moving to sit on the couch. “My dad owns a mechanic shop, so I salvaged it from a car one summer and built it.”

“It looks great,” he complimented before settling down on the couch.

“Do you want anything to drink?”

“A glass of water if you don’t mind, I wouldn’t want to risk losing my voice while we’re rehearsing.”

“Okay,” Kurt nodded, heading for the kitchen. “If you want to pull out your parts we can get started.” He filled up two glasses before heading back to the living room. “I know we still have a few weeks before the performance, but I was thinking it might be good to go through everything and block the scene that’s mostly just us.” He set the two drinks on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch in front of his own notebook. “I know we’re supposed to do all of that as a group, but I think it’d be nice to get a feel for it, just the two of us, first.”

Andrew nodded. “That should save us some time later on too.”

They were mid scene - Andrew and Kurt’s characters singing an intense duet about their love - when Blaine walked in. Kurt stopped singing and promptly tripped, falling into Andrew.

Blaine froze, keys falling from his hand.

Andrew quickly helped Kurt steady himself before taking a nervous step towards Blaine as the song continued playing in the background. He held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Andrew.”

Blaine shook his hand, seemingly out of muscle memory rather than conscious thought. “I’m-” he blinked, shaking his head a little to clear it. “I’m Kurt’s husband, Blaine.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Kurt’s told me a lot about you.”

A genuine smile flitted across Blaine’s face as he stooped to pick up his keys, slipping them into his pocket. “All good things I hope,” he said, walking towards Kurt who was now sitting on the couch.

“Like I would say bad things about you,” Kurt said, raising an eyebrow at him as Andrew made his way back to the couch.

“Good,” Blaine grinned, leaning in and kissing Kurt lightly on the lips as he struggled not to look surprised. He pulled back. “I’m going to start making dinner in a few. Are you staying?” he asked Andrew.

“I-”

“Stay! We can finish up our work and save you from dining hall food,” Kurt said, looking for a little buffer while he processed the fact that Blaine had kissed him when it definitely wasn’t necessary for their cover.

“If you guys don’t mind,” he glanced between them. “I would love to.”

“Okay,” Blaine nodded. “Raviolini sound good?”

“Sounds wonderful.”

 


	11. Double Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up that there are only two more chapters after this!

“Hey Kurt!” Rachel greeted Kurt cheerfully, sitting down next to him in their directing class. “Are you and Blaine free Saturday night?”

Kurt opened the calendar on his phone, glancing at the weekend to see if Blaine had put anything in for Saturday. “As far as I’m aware, we are. Blaine might’ve forgotten to put something on his calendar though. Why?”

“Great!” She started pulling her notebook out of her bag. “Check in with Blaine, because I was thinking we could go on a double date. Finn’s in town for the week and I’ve been hoping we could all go on a double date for ages.”

“Okay, I’ll shoot a text to Blaine, but that sounds fun,” Kurt found himself agreeing. “Just text me a time and place later?” Wait, why was he agreeing to this? The two of them would have to fake-couple all evening. In front of his brother and best friend.

Rachel nodded, and Kurt shook himself from his thoughts. Their professor was calling the class to attention, and there was no way he would be caught slacking in this class.

* * *

“So,” Blaine started to say, tying his bow-tie in the mirror while Kurt finished perfecting his own hair.

“So what?” Kurt teased when Blaine didn’t continue talking.

Blaine rolled his eyes in response, smiling fondly. “Are we ready for our first double date?”

“Are we ready for our third pretend date?” Kurt retorted.

Blaine laughed, finishing with his bow-tie and wandering into the living room. “Personally, I’m ready to play the married couple to Rachel and Finn’s ‘we’ve been on and off dating since high school’ routine.”

Kurt laughed, following him out of the bathroom. “This is all just an acting gig to you, isn’t it?”

“More of…” he tilted his head thoughtfully. “A long improv assignment.”

“You’re just lucky you’re charming.”

Blaine batted his eyelashes. “I don’t roll out of bed this charming.”

“Yeah,” Kurt snorted, settling down in an armchair. “You tend to roll out of bed and onto the floor.”

“That was one time!” Blaine retorted earnestly. “It’s not my fault that you twist all the blankets around!”

Blaine sat down across from him. “Fair enough. You do seem to have a default charming setting though, regardless of whether you’re playing at husband or not.”

Shrugging, Blaine blushed lightly. “I like being nice and friendly to people. It doesn't cost me anything.” They stared at each other for a minute until Blaine cleared his throat with a small cough, glancing down at his watch. “Well, dear husband,” he stood up, holding out a hand to Kurt. “Are you ready for this date?”

Kurt stood up, weaving their fingers together, preparing to shift into husband mode. “I was born ready,” he replied, holding a straight face for a moment before they both burst out laughing.

* * *

Kurt eagerly hugged Finn the moment they’re all at the restaurant waiting to be seated. It had been too long since he last saw him, and he was long past trying to play it cool.

“How’ve you been? How’s Lima? My dad’s eating properly, right?” Kurt said, practically tripping over his words.

Before Finn could form an answer, the maitre'd was gesturing them towards their table. They followed her to the back of the restaurant, ending up at a dimly lit four person table in the back, Blaine pulling a chair out for Kurt when they arrived.

Kurt’s heart thrilled at the casual way Blaine did this as he settled down at the table, Finn seating himself across from him, with Rachel on his left. Blaine sat down next to him, squeezing his thigh lightly before picking up a menu.

Finn glanced through his menu for a moment before picking up the conversation where they had left off. “Lima’s good, you should come visit again soon. Burt misses you, and Mom keeps griping about the amount of sports she’s being forced to watch. Plus, Nationals is in Columbus this year,” he wheedled. “The New Directions might finally win this one.”

“Yes! You guys should fly back with me the week after my graduation!” Rachel said excitedly. “It’ll be so much fun.”

Kurt looked over at Blaine, having a silent conversation with him. The invitation was tempting, and he at least was in need of a visit home.

Blaine gave a little nod. “I’m overdue a visit to Dalton and there’s a Warbler reunion that week,” he shrugged, looking over at Kurt. “We could go visit your parents and my parents. We haven't been back since before the wedding,” Blaine’s hand landed on top of Kurt’s. “I’d love to give you a tour of Westerville.”

“S- sure,” Kurt stuttered as Blaine’s thumb brushed the back of his hand. “Who's going to the Warbler reunion? I might have to join you.”

“Come on,” Blaine scoffed, pulling his hand away and turning to look at Kurt. “You are _required_ to go to that reunion. Once a Warbler, always a Warbler.”

“I was a Warbler for less than a year,” Kurt pointed out.

Blaine laughed. “You are both a former Warbler and _married_ to a Warbler. You’re more than invited.”

“I’m married to the _King_ Warbler,” Kurt teased.

Blaine rolled his eyes fondly, blushing. “Just because I got a f-” Blaine cut off mid word, spotting their waitress stepping up to the table.

“How are you all this evening?”

“That was probably the worst date ever,” Rachel laughed halfway through dinner.

“I can’t believe we went back again,” Finn added.

Kurt grinned. “It’s Breadstix, you can’t exactly avoid it in Lima.”

“I guess you’re right,” Finn shook his head. “Enough about our worst date stories, what’ve you guys got?”

Kurt’s stomach clenched and he suddenly could not think of one fake story to share. Luckily Blaine came to his rescue

“Well, before we started dating, we’d go out a lot and the wait staff would always assume we were dating. One time, I took Kurt out for his birthday and we got all dressed up just for fun-” Finn snorted, looking amused that they found dressing up fun. “And the waiter somehow got the idea that we were getting married soon, and he kept bringing up how he was in a band that played all sorts of events, including weddings.”

“He slipped me his card on the way out,” Kurt laughed. He looked over at Blaine, smiling gratefully. “I’d completely forgotten about that.”

“How did you forget about that?!” Blaine’s eyebrows shot up incredulously as he turned to stare at Kurt.

“I have no clue,” he laughed.

“Come on, tell us about a bad date since you got together!” Rachel interrupted. “You guys have barely told us anything about that.”

“We haven’t actually gone on too many formal dates,” Kurt shrugged. Honesty was always a good route.

“You must have _something_ ,” Finn insisted.

“Well there was the first time we tried to go on a date,” Blaine relented as Kurt tried to keep the confusion off his face.

“Ooo, first date story,” Rachel leaned forward. “Tell me _everything_.”

Blaine laughed, “There’s not too much to tell actually.” He set down his fork. “A week or two after we’d started dating, we decided to have a lunch date - expand our relationship to a more formal setting - the relationship was still a secret though, so we went a few blocks away from campus. Of course, we’re half way through lunch when Santana walks in and decides to join us.”

Kurt blinked. Apparently Blaine was commandeering a lunch they had together and spinning it into a romantic lunch date. “She didn’t even want to join us though,” Kurt rolled his eyes. “She spotted us as she was walking by and just wanted to steal some food for lunch.”

“We couldn’t exactly tell her what was going on though, so we spent the majority of our first real date pretending we _weren’t_ on a date,” Blaine concluded.

“Not exactly how I pictured our first date.”

“Oh my god,” Rachel burst out laughing. “I can not _wait_ to tell Santana about this.”

* * *

Later that night found Kurt and Blaine lying in Kurt’s bed, having ended up talking for so long that they’d both just gotten under the covers, continuing their conversation.

Eventually, Kurt turned off his bedside lamp and they both fell silent. Kurt had finally begun to drift off to sleep, when Blaine spoke quietly into the darkness. “I’m scared.”

Kurt opened his eyes, glancing over at Blaine’s outline in the dark. “Scared of what?”

Blaine sighed, and Kurt felt the mattress move as Blaine shuffled to face him. “What happens when everyone finds out?”

“You think we have to tell them?” Kurt asked, surprised.

“They’re going to be suspicious when we have the most amicable divorce in the history of divorces.”

Kurt pulled the blankets around himself more tightly. “We could pretend to fight?” he suggested, brain too tired to fully process everything.

“No,” Blaine replied sharply, hand shooting out to grip Kurt’s arm. “We are not doing that to our friendship.”

“Because you know you lose our fights?” Kurt teased, trying to cheer him up.

“It’s a lot more lying,” Blaine responded dully, not drawn in by Kurt’s attempt at a joke.

Kurt rolled his eyes, but took a hold of Blaine’s hand, finger running over his wedding ring.

“This whole thing is already a lot of lying.”

“Which is why I don’t want to complicate it more than necessary.” Blaine sighed. “Fighting would also mean our friends picking sides, and I’ve _heard_ the stories about break ups in the New Directions. I would really rather avoid that wrath.”

“We’ve got time to come up with a plan,” Kurt reassured, thrilling when Blaine’s thumb brushed across the back of his hand in response. “Besides, I might be going to London for a few months after I graduate for that job Isabelle was talking about. That could give us the perfect excuse.”

Blaine made a noncommittal noise, clearly not completely convinced.

“We have months to come up with something, Blaine. For now we just need to focus on the marriage bit.”

“I know,” Blaine yawned. “I just worry.”

Kurt squeezed his hand once before letting go. “I know, I do too. It’ll be okay.” _I hope._

Kurt rolled over, and had just closed his eyes, when Blaine shifted suddenly.

“Wait, _London_?” Kurt grimaced.

“Yeah…” He rolled over to face Blaine again. Blaine who looked rather hurt. “Didn’t I tell you about that? Last week?”

Blaine frowned. “You mentioned Isabelle was going to be travelling to London, but not you.”

“Oh.” Kurt bit his lip. “Well, it’s just an idea really right now. She mentioned that I might be able to come with her, but nothing official has happened yet.”

“Oh,” Blaine rolled over. “Okay.”

Kurt blinked at Blaine’s back. “...Are you- Are you okay with that?”

“Of course,” came Blaine’s terse response.

“Because you don’t seem-” he was cut off by Blaine sighing.

“Sorry. You caught me off guard.” Blaine turned back around, rolling over so their faces were close together. “I’ll miss you a lot if you go.”

“I’ll miss you too,” Kurt replied. He yawned, Blaine quickly following suit. “I haven’t even decided if I’m going yet. I don’t even know if I _can_ go.” He pulled the sheet higher over his shoulder. “I’m not positive I want to.”

Blaine brushed a hair off Kurt’s face. “You have time.”

* * *

“Hey,” Blaine said, poking his head into Kurt’s room where he was running through his monologue for his acting final. “I’m taking a break and making dinner, you interested?”

Kurt snapped the book closed. “Can I help make it?” he asked. “I’m going to go crazy if I sit here and study any longer.”

“I would love help,” Blaine beamed. “I was thinking pizza and some salad?”

* * *

Once the pizza was in the oven, they both sat down at the kitchen table, digging into the salad.

“I’m surprised your group isn’t getting together tonight to run through your performances before finals start next week,” Blaine commented, taking a bit of salad.

“We were going to, but everyone put off their papers until the last minute, so we’re hopefully rescheduling for later in the week and maybe once before the actual day.” Kurt rolled his eyes. “I’ve got my part down and I know all of the non-group pieces are set, but this is why I hate group performances.”

“I wish I could make it to your show.”

Kurt shrugged. “Not your fault that you have a final that overlaps. Besides, you probably know most of it as well as I do with the number of times Andrew and I ran through it here.”

Blaine’s smile became a little bit forced. “Yeah, you two really seem to have it down.”

“We better, we’ve practiced it often enough.”

“Yeah,” Blaine stabbed at a piece of lettuce. “I’m glad the two of you have hit it off so well.”

“Really?” Kurt asked, eyeing Blaine critically as he refused to meet his eye. “Because you don’t look all that thrilled.”

Blaine shrugged, getting up to check on the pizza. “I guess I just feel bad that the two of you can’t date because of me.”

Kurt gave Blaine’s back an incredulous look. “He has a girlfriend. And anyway, I don’t feel that way about him.”

Blaine let the oven door snap shut. “Wait, I thought he was gay,” Blaine said, turning around to face Kurt now.

“Bi,” Kurt shrugged.

Blaine smirked. “Did you flip out at him when you found out?”

“No,” Kurt said slowly. “Why-? Oh.” He blushed, looking down at his salad for a moment before glaring up at Blaine playfully. “I did not, thank you very much.”

Blaine gave him a genuine smile. “The pizza should be ready in a few minutes.”

* * *

“Guess what happened to me today?” Kurt called as he entered the apartment.

“What?” Blaine asked, voice coming from the kitchen.

“I was leaving NYADA,” Kurt said, heading for his room to put his bag down. “And this guy - I think he was a junior? - came up to me.” Kurt entered the kitchen, moving to sit on the counter next to Blaine who was chopping up vegetables.

Blaine paused, glancing over at him. “And?”

“He asked me out.” Kurt peered over at the stove, trying to ascertain what Blaine was making.

“Oh.” Blaine said softly, ducking his head, hand tightening minutely around the knife he was holding. “What’d you say?”

“I told him I was married,” Kurt shrugged before hopping down from the counter and grabbing a carrot off the cutting board.

Blaine continued cutting, his back to Kurt. “How’d he respond to that?”

Kurt rolled his eyes, leaning against the counter. “He decided to make sure that I wrote him off for life.” Blaine raised an eyebrow. “He said, ‘I don’t care if you don’t.’”

“Wh- ow!” Blaine yelped, dropping the knife and bringing his finger to his mouth. Kurt’s eyes widened and he passed him a paper towel before heading to get their first aid kit. “He said _what_?”

Kurt laughed. “I couldn’t believe it either. You are okay, right?” he added as his hands landed on the first aid kit. “I don’t need to bring you to the hospital or anything?”

“No,” Blaine said, now rinsing his finger under the faucet. “It looks like a small cut.”

“Come here,” Kurt said, settling down at the kitchen table and pulling a chair closer to him. “Let me see.”

Blaine held his finger out to Kurt, pouting as he sat down. Kurt rummaged around for Neosporin and a bandaid.

“He really said that?” Blaine asked while Kurt worked.

“Wh- Oh. Yup.” Kurt stuck the band aid carefully onto Blaine’s finger. “I nearly tripped him for it. What kind of a person says that in response to ‘I’m married’?”

“Not a good one.” Blaine smiled a little. “I was going to apologize to you for having to turn him down, but I think I helped you dodge a bullet there.”

Kurt laughed. “You really did.” He turned away, putting the supplies back in the first aid kit before closing it. “I probably would have said no anyway.” He turned back in time to see Blaine’s delighted smile morph into a more neutral expression.

“Why?”

Kurt hesitated, tempted to just say ‘because of you.’ Shaking himself of that notion, he instead decided to play it safe. “He wasn’t really my type. He was wearing pinstripe pants and a shirt with horizontal stripes for god sake. My eyes hurt just looking at him.”

Blaine chuckled, “How dare he even speak to you.”

I know,” Kurt joked. “I almost had to call my lackeys to drag him away.”

After a moment of grinning at each other, Blaine made to stand up. Kurt pushed him back down. “I’ll finish the vegetables and grab that sauce you were making. You heal.”

“Okay,” Blaine said quietly, a little smile crossing his face. “Use a different knife though.”

* * *

**Rachel:** We’re going out tonight before we’re stuck in finals and you and Blaine aren’t allowed to say no!

**Rachel:** We’re going to that club you guys used to go to all the time. I’ve invited Elliott and Santana. Be there by 10

* * *

“She definitely said 10,” Kurt grumbled, checking his phone again and sending another ‘where are you??’ text to Rachel.

Blaine sighed, signalling to the bartender for two more drinks. “Leave it to Rachel to be thirty minutes late to her own gathering.”

“I like to be fashionably late!” Rachel said, squeezing between them.

“They were fighting over the bathroom when I showed up,” Elliott supplied, sitting down next to Kurt.

Santana rolled her eyes, leaning against the bar. “I don’t know why Berry needed it for so long, but _I_ plan on getting laid tonight.”

Rachel scoffed. “That’s your plan _every_ night.” She stood up, tugging at Kurt’s arm. “Come dance with me!”

Kurt allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. “I’ll be back,” he told Blaine before Rachel tugged him on to the dance floor.

Throngs of people surrounded them as they danced, and Kurt was relieved to have the opportunity to unwind after a weird, stressful couple of months. He burst out laughing as Rachel jokingly grinded against him.

He was contemplating ordering his fourth drink of the evening when he felt someone press up behind him, hands pulling him back by the hips.

He startled, letting go of Rachel, who turned around. She smirked. “I’ll leave you two alone,” she laughed. “It’s time for another drink anyway,” she said with a wave, walking away just as Kurt realized it was probably _Blaine_ who was behind him.

Kurt spun around to face Blaine. “Finally joining me?” he teased.

“Too many guys staring at you who don’t know you’re mine.” Kurt’s stomach thrilled at the possessive growl of Blaine’s voice that shone through despite the alcohol slurring his words a little. “Elliott pointed out how many guys were circling you.”

Kurt glanced around. He’d been so focused on just letting loose with Rachel that he hadn’t noticed anyone looking.

“He tell you to-?”

“No more talking about Elliott.” Blaine pouted, “I wanna dance.”

* * *

Kurt was pressed up against Blaine’s back, unable to help himself from grinding his ass against Blaine’s crotch when he felt his hands tighten around him, pulling him impossibly closer. Kurt opened his eyes when he felt hands on his shoulders. He blinked, taking in the tall, muscled man dancing in front of him.

“I-” he croaked, mind foggy between the alcohol and dancing with Blaine.

He heard Blaine let out a noise that sounded like a growl before he was being spun around to face him. Looking down, he saw Blaine glaring over his shoulder.

“Just trying to have some fun,” he heard a voice behind him yell. “Whatever.”

Kurt was about to turn around to tell this guy off because he’s _married_ thank you very much, when Blaine rested his forehead on Kurt’s shoulder.

“I know you’re hot, but people need to back off,” Blaine said drunkenly into his neck.

Kurt grinned, “Y-you think I’m hot?” he asked, his filter kicking in too late to catch the words before they were out of his mouth.  This was still all for show ….right?

Blaine lifted his head up, eyes serious as he gazed up at Kurt. “So hot.”

Then, to Kurt’s utter disbelief, Blaine surged forward, kissing him. Between the alcohol and the dancing and the Blaine of it all, Kurt’s brain short-circuited. He kissed Blaine fervently in return, ignoring the niggling voice in the back of his mind was telling him this was a bad idea.

Blaine’s left hand swept down, pulling Kurt closer by the ass, while his right hand rested on Kurt’s neck. All thoughts of anything except Blaine’s hands and mouth were pushed from Kurt’s mind as he slipped his hands around Blaine’s waist, fingertips dipping below the waistband of his jeans.

* * *

The next morning Kurt woke with a raging headache, barely managing to make it to the bathroom before emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Eyes closed, he moved to lean against the cool tub, but instead found himself leaning on something warm and soft.

He cracked an eye open. “Blaine?”

There was a responding grunt and then a bottle of water was being pushed into Kurt’s hands. he took a sip, swishing it around in his mouth before spitting it out in the toilet. He leaned back against the tub.

“What happened last night?” he asked eventually, trying to parse through his spotty memories.

Kurt heard Blaine take a drink from his own water bottle before finally opening his eyes, only to regret it immediately. His eyes zeroed in on a hickey on Blaine's neck, memories flooding back. Oh god. “We hooked up last night,” he gasped.

At the same moment, Blaine sighed. “Things got a little hot and heavy on the dance floor.” Blaine brushed a finger over Kurt’s stomach. “Sorry about that.”

Kurt looked down, just now realizing that he was dressed only in his briefs. “Wha-” his eyes widened at the sight of the dark purple mark on his stomach. “Did we have sex?” he screeched.

“Shh,” Blaine whined. “Indoor voice.”

“Did we have sex?” Kurt hissed, his racing thoughts making his head pound.

“I don’t think so. I woke up in your bed, but I was half dressed.”

Kurt sighed in relief. He wouldn’t _mind_ having sex with Blaine, but he’d prefer to remember it.

“Huh?”

“What?” Had he said that out loud?

“I thought I heard you sa- you were mumbling so I couldn’t quite make-”

“Uh,” Kurt’s body sagged a little in relief. “I just said I was glad that we didn’t have sex while black out drunk.” There. That should work.

“Oh. Yeah. Me too,” Blaine agreed. After a moment he managed to heave himself off the floor.

“Do you think we could get pizza delivered this early?”

Kurt clutched his stomach. “Please don’t mention food.”

“Sorry,” Blaine shrugged, heading to the door.

Kurt struggled to his feet, intending on going back to sleep for a _very_ long time. “I’m going back to bed.” Hopefully he’d wake up to find out this had been a dream. He really didn’t need an accidental hookup to add on top of studying for finals.

Even more importantly, he didn’t want his heart to travel down the ‘he made out with me because he likes me!’ path. It would just result in hurt feelings. They’d been drunk and pretending to be a real couple. That was all it was.

* * *

Kurt emerged from his room around dinner time. His growling stomach combined with the smell of Blaine that lingered in his bed, had forced him to face the world. AKA Blaine.

“He lives!” Blaine cheered from where he was lying on the couch.

Kurt cracked a smile, unable to help himself. “I needed food.”

Blaine shot him a calculating look. “About last night-”

“It’s fine,” Kurt sighed, trudging to the kitchen, clinging to the little speech he’d rehearsed in his room. “We were both drunk and we haven’t hooked up with anyone in a while,” Kurt tried to keep his tone casual, his head in the fridge.

“Oh. Yeah-” Kurt pulled a container of leftover chicken out, placing it on the counter. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Blaine apologized. “I-”

“Blaine,” Kurt interrupted, grabbing a plate from the cabinet while willing the conversation to just end already. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable,” he bit back an exasperated sigh. “You didn’t force yourself on me. If I remember correctly,” he finished putting food on his plate and rinsed the now empty container out. “We were both enthusiastic, very _drunk_ , participants.”

“Speaking of ‘enthusiastic,’” Blaine said. “I’m apparently not the only handsy drunk in this apartment.” Kurt blushed as he walked into the room. “I have a very clear memory of someone sticking their hands down the back of my pants and-”

“Wow, please stop talking,” Kurt said, looking around for something to hit Blaine with. “I was going to maybe join you, but-”

Blaine laughed. “Okay, okay,” he held his hands up in surrender. “No more teasing.” Kurt eyed him cautiously as he sat down on the opposite end of the couch. “So we’re alright?” Blaine asked, nudging Kurt’s leg with his toe.

Kurt sucked in a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, we are.”

“Elliott sent me a ‘congrats on the hot sex’ text, so at least we helped our cover.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “He has no class.”

“Good thing Santana left before it happened. We’d never hear the end of it if she saw.”

“I don’t even want to _think_ about that nightmare.” Blaine laughed, the air between them finally becoming lighter as Kurt joined in. Blaine picked up the remote. “What do you want to watch?”

* * *

The following week they didn’t see very much of each other. Part of this was because of finals, but Kurt was also avoiding the apartment - and Blaine.

Even though they’d cleared the air between them the day after they’d hooked up, Kurt couldn’t stop remembering the feeling of Blaine’s lips on his, the way his hands felt against his skin, or the needy noises Blaine’d made when Kurt had put his hands in his hair. It also didn’t stop Kurt from feeling as though the air between them had changed, everything seeming just a little bit different on the rare occasion that they were in a room together for more than a few seconds.

Despite his avoidance of Blaine, Kurt still sent him a text as he was on his way out the door for his group performances. His final final. He knew it was unlikely, but he hoped Blaine would somehow be able to make it. He was stressed out about it, and having Blaine in the audience always helped him relax a little. Some finals finished up early, right?

* * *

To Kurt’s delight, his performances seemed to have been a success. The crowd had laughed in all of the right places, which was especially heartwarming when he considered the fact that most of them were in the audience for course credit.

After the show, Kurt went out to the audience, hoping to score some free food and maybe say hi to a few friends. He’d weaved through half the crowd when he came to an abrupt halt.

Blaine was standing in front of him. “You came to my show?” His eyes slid from Blaine’s eyes to his lips before Kurt forcefully made himself focus.

“Of course I did, dummy. I ran over the moment I finished my final,” Blaine said, pulling a bouquet of wild flowers out from behind his back. “Congrats,” he leaned forward, kissing Kurt’s cheek. “I know how hard you’ve been working on this.”

Kurt allowed himself three seconds to bask in the affection, preening at the compliment, before coming back to reality.

“What did you think? I know my group wasn’t perfect, but-”

Blaine grabbed Kurt’s hand that wasn’t the holding the flowers, cutting him off. “I thought it was amazing. There could’ve-” a throat cleared, and Blaine stopped talking. Kurt followed Blaine’s gaze to the right, eyes landing on Andrew. Blaine’s fingers tightened around his minutely. “Hello,” he said, polite smile firmly in place. “You did a wonderful job up there.”

“Thank you!” Andrew replied with a grin. He turned to look at Kurt. “Sorry to interrupt, but Professor Dunlap wants to talk to us.”

“Oh,” Kurt blinked, looking around for her. “Sure, yeah.” He let go of Blaine’s hand. He’d taken half a step towards Professor Dunlap and the stage when Blaine put a hand on his wrist, causing him to turn back around.

“Find me afterwards?”

“I’m not sure how long it’ll take,” Kurt said, shaking his head despite the little ball of hope in his stomach. “You don’t have to wait around if you don’t want to. I can just meet you at home,” he offered.

“It’s okay,” Blaine fidgeted. “There are some people I’d like to catch up with. “Plus, if I wait we can take the subway home together.”

Kurt nodded, smiling a little, “I’ll see you in a bit then.”

Blaine gave Kurt a small smile as he turned to follow Andrew.

Halfway across the room, Kurt glanced back to see Blaine slowly making his way to the refreshment table.

* * *

The conversation with Professor Dunlap was brief. She merely wanted to congratulate them all on their performances and to remind them that if they wanted to talk to her about them, she would be in her office all day tomorrow. He was back in the audience ten minutes later, weaving through some lingering groups of people to find Blaine (and to hopefully grab one of the cookies he’d seen on the refreshment table).

After grabbing a cookie, he spotted Blaine talking to- no. _Being hit on_ by a guy Kurt vaguely recognized from the NYADA hallways. He pushed down the happy little thrill in his stomach as he noticed that Blaine looked uncomfortable about the attention.

Marching over to them, Kurt slipped a possessive arm around Blaine, “There you are darling.” He aimed a falsely sweet smile at the other guy, “Who’s your friend?”

“Owen. And you are?” Owen said, leveling him with a challenging look.

“Kurt,” Kurt stuck out a hand to shake Owen’s. “Blaine’s husband.”

Owen blinked, releasing Kurt’s hand. “Blaine never mentioned a husband.”

“I didn’t exactly have the chance to,” Blaine pointed out. He turned to Kurt, “You ready to head out, sweetheart?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “Bye Owen,” he added with a sarcastic wave, moving his arm off Blaine’s waist so that they could hold hands.

They headed out the door silently, Blaine letting out a long breath when they were halfway down the street. “Thank you for rescuing me in there,” he said, squeezing Kurt’s hand.

“Well, as your husband, I was _very_ insulted that someone would dare hit on you,” he joked. He glanced over at Blaine, who had a wry little smile on his face. “As your friend, I was insulted that someone would hit on you when you so clearly wanted no part of it. We weren’t even at a bar!” he added. “It was a school event!”

Blaine laughed, bumping Kurt’s shoulder lightly as they walked. “I could have handled it, but thank you. It was nice to have someone swoop in and come to my rescue.” He chuckled, “For a moment I was worried that you were going to exchange _words_ with him and I was going to have to drag you out before any of the teachers overheard you.”

“He wasn’t worth the energy,” Kurt said, smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Besides, I need to start packing for our trip to Ohio tonight, not spend the night walking around the apartment angrily.”

“We don’t leave for another two days!”

“I have a lot of outfits to figure out.” He paused. “And I have to prepare myself for staying at your parents’ house for a few days,” he admitted.

Blaine shot him a quizzical look. “You have to prepare yourself?”

“I’ve barely spent any time with them!”  he huffed. “And now I’m going to be spending a few days with them. I know I’ll be fine,” he assured Blaine. “I just need to mentally prepare myself to be around them for a few days in a row.”

“Fair enough,” Blaine shrugged as they headed down the steps to the subway. “Just as long as you know that my parents love you and there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I know,” Kurt assured.

Blaine squeezed his hand before letting go to get his metrocard out of his pocket. “Good, because I’m looking forward to showing you more of Westerville.”

 


	12. Ohio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the epilogue after this! If anyone has prompts for this versus, let me know!

Despite almost missing their flight - between sharing a bathroom and the traffic in New York, it was bound to happen - they landed in Ohio twenty minutes early and in one piece. Blaine's parents picked them up from the airport, driving the two of them to Westerville and asking questions about their trip.

For the most part, Kurt let Blaine answer the questions. Despite the Andersons’ genuine appreciation for what he'd done, he still wasn't entirely sure how to act around them. Back in high school the few times that he had met the two of them, they had been friendly towards him, but they'd never exchanged more than a few words. Despite Blaine’s assurances in the past that they liked him, Kurt wasn’t sure he fully believed that.

So he sat back and let Blaine catch up with his parents, feeling himself relax at the ease with which the three of them interacted now. He stared out the window, watching cars on the highway while he listened to the conversation, happy to have a distraction from the Did-Last-Week-Mean-Something debate that was still raging in his  head despite all obvious signs from Blaine pointing to _no_. He was having a hard time getting the hopeful little voice in his head to shut up, particularly with the extra affection Blaine had been showing the past few days.

* * *

Once they reached the Anderson residence, the two of them settled into their rooms - Blaine going to his old bedroom, and Kurt being shown a guest room next door. An hour later, Pam called them for dinner.

"How's New York treating you boys?" she asked, once the four of them were settled around the table, putting food on their plates. "You two always sound so busy! I'm sure you're glad that finals are over."

"Relieved is more like it," Blaine sighed, spooning mashed potatoes onto his plate before passing the dish to his dad. “It's too bad you two couldn't make it to my recital, but you got the video Kurt took of it, right?"

"Yes! We loved it, didn't we Mark?" Pam said, looking across the table at her husband.

"All those piano lessons really paid off," he agreed. "Speaking of school, when do grades come out?"

"Mark," Pam sighed, setting down her fork. "We talked about this."

"Alright, alright," he looked over at Blaine, a teasing light in his eyes. "How's married life treating you? Any grandkids going to be appearing soon?"

Kurt let out a surprised laugh while Blaine grinned down at his plate and Pam shook her head at her husband.

"What?" Mark asked in mock confusion. "We had Cooper after being married only six months."

Blaine rolled his eyes fondly. "Married life was going just fine until you decided to start this conversation."

"Okay," Mark huffed, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "I see when my conversation topics aren't wanted," he laughed. "Any of you want to offer something up?"

Kurt shifted in his seat, glancing across the table at Blaine who was carefully adding dressing to his salad. "We have a rule about not discussing finals for a week after they happen, and that's about all that's new with us," he replied calmly, setting the salad dressing back down. "What have the two of you been up to? We haven't really talked in a few weeks," Blaine added, glancing between his parents.

"Work," his dad supplied dully, cutting into his steak.

Kurt's eyes flitted over to Pam who had straightened up, smiling over at Blaine. "There was a sudden influx of calls from groups of high school and college groups looking for volunteer work over the summer, so I've been coordinating volunteer groups like crazy. We have groups lined up from now until mid August." She reached over and patted Blaine's hand, a gesture Kurt knew far too well from when Blaine would try to comfort him. "Sorry I haven't called you, I've been pretty swamped."

She squeezed his hand once before letting go and turning to Kurt. "How have you been? You've been awfully quiet so far."

"How'd your performance last week go?" Mark asked.

Kurt set down his fork, hands moving to twist in his lap nervously. "It-"

"His performance was _amazing_ ," Blaine interrupted. "He blew it out of the water."

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Blaine bit his lip, a blush coloring his cheeks. "Sorry. Did you want to answer that?" he asked by way of an apology.

"Maybe," Kurt teased, thrilling at the flirtatious lilt to Blaine’s voice. He turned his attention back to Pam and Mark after a moment. "According to one source, I was 'amazing,' so- ow!" he glared across the table at Blaine who had just kicked him. "I think it went well."

Mark laughed. “I’m glad to hear that, Blaine told me how worried you were about it.”

Kurt looked across the table, surprised, to find Blaine blushing, suddenly very focused on his plate. He hadn't realized that Blaine talked to his parents about him.

“It was probably all he’s heard about from me for the past few weeks,” he said, turning back to Mark. “Working with a group can be a challenge when it’s for school.”

“It can be a challenge in the office too,” Mark agreed.

“Oh, don’t tell them that, Mark,” Pam said. “It just depends who you’re working with.” She took a bite of mashed potatoes. “Are you boys looking forward to the Warbler reunion tomorrow?”

Blaine immediately perked up. “Of course! It’s going to be Warblers from the past five years. I can’t wait to seem them all together again.”

Kurt laughed. “You’re going to have to introduce me to some of them because I really only know the guys from my year.”

“Oh don’t you worry about that, husband,” Blaine winked jokingly. “The ones you haven’t met are looking forward to meeting you. Well, at the least the ones who I was in the Warblers with are.”

“Okay, _husband_ ,” Kurt rolled his eyes a little. “Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

“Kurt, time to wake up!” Kurt groaned at the sound of Blaine’s far too energetic voice. He pulled the blankets closer. “We have things to do!” Kurt waved a hand out, trying to smack Blaine as he bounced on the bed. “Kurt!”

“Go ‘way,” Kurt grumbled, eyes shut tight. He heard a loud sigh and then felt Blaine move under the covers. He cracked an eye open, peering over at Blaine. “What’re you doing?”

“Since you won’t get out, I figure I’ll just have to join you.”

He shot a careful look over at Blaine before raising an eyebrow. “So I can sleep a little longer?”

Blaine grinned. “Yeah.”

Letting his eyes fall shut, Kurt shifted, trying to get more comfortable. He startled a few minutes later as Blaine poked his side. “What?” he grumbled.

“It’s really nice out!”

“ _Sleep_ ,” Kurt intoned, opening his eyes again to glare at Blaine. “You were just yawning and agreeing to more sleep three minutes ago!”

“I know, but I got bored,” Blaine sighed. “I’m all excited and antsy and my emotions are-” he shot a wry grin at Kurt. “I can’t fall back asleep, I need a distraction.”

Kurt’s immediate thought was _I know one way I could distract you_ but he pushed past it because now was definitely not the time. “You couldn’t go talk to your parents or something?” Kurt finally asked, resigning himself to being awake. “They couldn’t entertain you?”

“You’re better at it,” Blaine shrugged, cheeks turning pink.

“I was planning on doing my morning workout routine but I guess-”

“No, no, you can do it,” Blaine interrupted. “I wouldn’t want to disrupt your plans.”

Kurt raised an eyebrow. “So it’s just my sleep schedule you’re okay disrupting?”

Blaine huffed, looking a little embarrassed. “Maybe…”

Kurt laughed. "Maybe?" he teased.

Shoving his shoulder, Blaine rolled closer to Kurt. "Fine. I admit it, I wanted to spend time with you!"

It was Kurt's turn to blush. "I guess I could spend some time with you," Kurt teased. "Got any specific plans?"

“Hmm,” Blaine hummed. “That depends.”

Kurt looked over at him suspiciously. “Depends on what?”

"On how you feel about picnics."

Kurt yawned, finally sitting up. “Is there going to be time to change before the reunion?”

“Yup! Now go get dressed. I have some food to prepare.”

* * *

Blaine drove them a few miles, pulling over near a stretch of woods. “We’re going in _there_?” Kurt raised an eyebrow as he got out of the car, staring skeptically at the forest.

“Just a little way in,” Blaine confirmed, getting the picnic basket out of the backseat.

Kurt eyes the woods critically. It wasn’t that he was opposed to the outdoors, he’d just been in NYC for too long apparently, and had been expecting something more akin to picnicking on the well groomed grass of Central Park.

“Come on,” Blaine grabbed his hand. “We can start singing songs from _Into the Woods_ if that helps.”

Kurt laughed, allowing Blaine to lead him. “I think I’m good, thanks. Just please tell me we’re not going to get lost out here.”

Blaine slowed his pace so Kurt could walk next to him, clasped hands swinging between them.

“Just a little further. there’s this little spot and- you’ll see.”

They kept walking for a few minutes, Kurt shooting a look at Blaine occasionally because they were _still_ holding hands. Just as Kurt had gathered the courage to say something about it, Blaine stopped walking and dropped his hand.

“Here we are!” he gestured to a little stream that ran alongside a few picnic tables.

“It’s… beautiful,” Kurt said, taking it all in. “Especially with all the flowers blooming right now.”

“Exactly,” Blaine grinned. “The perfect location for us to catch up.”

Smiling, Kurt approached the cleanest table, “You got a towel in there?” Blaine nodded, reaching into the picnic basket and tossing him one. Kurt wiped the dirt off the bench with it. “So,” he sat down. “What’d you bring?”

They talked their way through lunch, eating the sandwiches Blaine made and stopping every once in a while to try and throw grapes in each others mouths. A while later, Blaine reached into the picnic basket once more.

“So I brought some dessert… it might not be in the best shape anymore, but…” Kurt straightened his back, trying to see what Blaine was pulling out of the basket.

“You brought cheesecake?!”

“I may have… mentioned to my mom that it was your favorite. She had some in the fridge so I stole it for us.”

Kurt reached his hands out impatiently.

Blaine raised an eyebrow in return. “Yes?”

“Can I please have some cheesecake?” Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

“Of course,” Blaine stuck his tongue out. He passed Kurt a fork before unveiling the cake with a little “ta da!”

“You are too adorable for your own good,” Kurt said intently focused on the cheesecake.

“Um,” Kurt glanced up to see Blaine tug at his bowtie, looking a little flustered. Kurt shrugged to himself, taking another bite of cheesecake, moaning quietly as a burst of strawberry hit his tongue. “So you like it then?”

“Love it,” Kurt said, around a mouthful of it.

“You have some-” Blaine leaned forward, his finger brushing alone the corner of Kurt’s mouth. Kurt froze, afraid that if he moved he’d end up doing something wildly inappropriate - like sucking on Blaine’s thumb. Blaine seemed to finally register how _in_ Kurt’s personal space he was when his fingers moved to cup Kurt’s cheek, and he froze as well.

He blinked, looking a little startled, but to Kurt’s utter disbelief, he didn’t pull his hand back. He actually leaned a little closer. “I-”

Blaine’s phone went off, startling them both. Blaine’s hand flew to his pocket as he scrambled to turn it off, breaking the moment.

“That was the, uh, the,” Blaine’s cheeks were pink and he was looking anywhere but at Kurt. “That as the alarm saying we need to get ready for the Warbler thing. I guess- umm,” Blaine rubbed the back of his neck. “We should probably go get ready.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kurt agreed, heart sinking a little. He was so sure something had been about to happen.

* * *

Most of the Warblers flocked to Blaine the moment they entered their old practice room. There were cheers and shouts of excitement, and Kurt quickly found himself falling back a little to avoid the bulk of the crowd, whose attention was focused on Blaine.

Not seeing Blaine glancing around for him, Kurt headed to the refreshment table with plans to pick up drinks for himself and Blaine. He was halfway there when someone called his name. He turned, surprised to find Sebastian looking him over.

“How’d you do it?”

Kurt raised an eyebrow. He’d never really liked Sebastian. “How’d I do _what_?”

“Get Blaine to marry you. He’s sex on a stick and you’re…” Sebastian raised an eyebrow disdainfully. “A-”

“Hello Sebastian,” Blaine interrupted. Kurt struggled not to look surprised by his appearance as Blaine wrapped an arm around his waist. He’d been sure that Blaine would immediately get caught up talking to his Warbler friends. “How have you been?” His smile was polite, but his eyes flashed dangerously.

Sebastian’s attention was immediately captured as his eyes traveled up and down Blaine’s body, lingering on his biceps before making eye contact. “I’m doing even better now, killer,” he winked, taking a step closer.

Blaine let out a humorless laugh as Kurt forced himself not to give Sebastian a tongue lashing. “I’m glad you’re enjoying the reunion. It’s really great to see everyone again. Now if you’ll excuse us, Kurt and I need to talk to Jeff about something.”

With a nod at Sebastian, Blaine pulled Kurt away, towards where Jeff was standing talking to Wes.

“I can’t believe I just saw Blaine Anderson almost be _mean_ to someone,” Kurt teased.

“Oh shut up,” Blaine laughed, bumping his shoulder lightly. “I can be mean to people.”

“I know you _can_ be,” Kurt said, glancing over at him, surprised to find Blaine staring right back. “I rarely see it though.”

Blaine shrugged, cheeks tinged pink as he looked away. “Sebastian has been completely disrespectful towards you too many times for me to just let him get away with it.” Blaine squeezed his hand, “Besides, Jeff wanted us to come talk to him about potential Warbler numbers to perform later.”

“Damn it,” Kurt said, coming to a halt ten feet away from Jeff and Wes.

“What?” Blaine asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“I left my list of Blaine Warbler solos at your parents’ house!” he said, managing to keep a straight face for three seconds before laughing.

Blaine’s face quickly transformed from concerned to amused. He rolled his eyes. “It’s okay, I have the list of Kurt and Blaine duets memorized.”

“Stop giving each other doe eyes, and come over here!” Jeff called, startling Kurt out of their moment.

He blushed, glancing over at Blaine who gave him a sheepish grin. “Come on,” Blaine said, jerking his head towards Jeff. “Think we can get Wes to let us try something new?”

“Doubtful, but we can always stage a mid-song coup.”

“You, Kurt Hummel, are a genius,” Blaine laughed. Then, seemingly unable to stop himself, Blaine bounced up on his toes and kissed Kurt on the cheek.

* * *

Once they had wrapped up their conversation with Jeff and Wes, Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand, tugging him towards the door.

"Where're we going?" Kurt asked as Blaine led him past the last group of Warbler alumni.

"To do something I should have a long time ago."

"To- what?"

Blaine slowed down as they reached the hall, allowing Kurt to catch up but not letting go of his hand.

"It has to do with last week."

"Last week?"

"At the club?"

Kurt's stomach dropped unpleasantly. "What exactly...?"

The question hung in the air as Blaine lead him into a student lounge where they had spent many hours studying together.

Out of sheer nerves, Kurt slipped free to walk the perimeter of the room. “Ooo I’d forgotten how-”

“Kurt?” There was a nervous tremor in Blaine’s voice.

Kurt paused, fingers brushing the spines of a few books. “Yeah?” he asked taking a deep breath before turning around.

Blaine shifted his weight nervously before sitting down on one of the couches. “Come sit with me.”

"Okay, what's up?" Kurt asked mildly worried now, settling down carefully next to Blaine. "If this is about how things have been dif-" Blaine reached out, touching his shoulder and Kurt immediately stopped talking.

"I-" his hands knotted in his lap as he glanced down. After a moment, he looked back up, confidence replacing the insecure look in his eyes. "I wasn't going to tell you yet because I didn't want to make this," he held up his left hand, ring glinting in the fading sunlight, "awkward. Being back here again, with you, especially after last week, kind of… changed things I guess? And I just can't keep making up excuses to avoid it."

Kurt raised an eyebrow, brain whirring with possibilities, heart thumping wildly in his chest.

"Kurt," Blaine reached his right hand out, shakily settling it on Kurt's left. "I- I'm in love with you." Kurt’s heart skipped a beat. "I've been in love with you since our Dalton days I just- I pushed it aside because suddenly you were going back to McKinley and I figured that the last thing you needed was me trying to pull you back here. And then there was Chandler and I guess I just buried my feelings because these past few months-" he cut himself off, shaking his head a little. "I don't think I ever really stopped being in love with you." Blaine stumbled over his words a little as Kurt just gaped at him. "I'm not expecting anything, I just thought it was only f-"

Finally managing to break out of his shock, Kurt leaned forward, sealing his lips over Blaine's. He was done waiting.

Luckily, Blaine was quick on the uptake, one hand coming up to Kurt's shoulder while the other snuck around his waist as he pushed into the kiss. It was _so_ much better sober.

When they pulled apart minutes later, Blaine's eyes were filled with awe. Kurt was sure his reflected something similar. "So, uh," Blaine stuttered, eyes looking anywhere but at Kurt, his cheeks flushed. "We should probably go back in there," he gestured lamely behind him.

Kurt dropped his hand to Blaine's knee. "I think they can go ten whole minutes without Blaine Warbler," he breathed out as Blaine's eyes finally met his.

For a moment, Kurt felt like they were frozen in time, but then Blaine was surging forward, their lips connecting once more.

* * *

“There you guys are!" Trent shouted when they re-entered the party a half hour later. "I see you've been busy," he added with a smirk.

Kurt blushed while Blaine's eyes bugged out a little.

"I was afraid you guys had left without saying anything," David said, joining them. He squinted at Kurt's bowtie. "Wait... wasn't that the bow tie Blaine was wearing earlier?" His eyes widened as he glanced between them. "Did you run off to have sex?!"

Kurt blanched while Blaine merely laughed, squeezing his hand. "And risk one of you guys walking in on us? I don't think so." He cleared this throat, thumb rubbing over the back of Kurt's hand. “We may have realized that we never got a chance to kiss at Dalton though and wandered off to fix that."

David raised an eyebrow, but before he could say anything, Kurt tugged at Blaine's hand. "We were actually just on our way to get some refreshments before the singing starts," he said with a nod before pulling Blaine away.

"You switched our bowties?" he hissed at Blaine once they were out of earshot. Blaine merely grinned, looking far too pleased with himself. "I bet my hair's a mess too-"

"Kurt," Blaine said softly, pulling them to a stop in order to face each other. "I would never lie about the state of your hair. Are you-" he sighed sadly. "Are you regretting this? Is that why you're freaking out? Because I thought we were both on board, but if you're not comfortable..."

He let the sentence hang as Kurt took a breath, reining in his panic. "No. No, of course not."

"Good," Blaine beamed, rocking up onto his toes for a brief kiss. "Good."

"We should probably swap our bowties back though. That one does _not_ match your outfit."

Blaine rolled his eyes fondly. "So now would be an okay time to mention that yours doesn't work so well either?"

Kurt's eyes widened. "How did I not notice you switched them?"

"Well, I have it on good authority that my hands are magic."

Kurt turned bright red. "Don't say things like that,” he hissed. “People are going to think we really did do it in there.”

"I'm having trouble remembering why we didn't," Blaine said, voice a little lower, as he pulled Kurt closer, tucking his hands into Kurt's back pockets.

"Well, well, well," a voice interrupted them, causing Blaine to pull away from Kurt.

"Exhibit A," Kurt said, rolling his eyes. "Hello again Sebastian."

“You two look mighty close,” he said, eyeing them beadily.

“Well, we are married,” Blaine replied cooly, grabbing Kurt’s hand.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “No need to get all possessive, I just came over here to make an offer.”

“And that’s what exactly?”

“Well,” Sebastian drawled, regaining some of his swagger. “I wanted to let you know that if you’re ever looking for a little… spice,” he winked at Blaine. “You have my number,” he stepped forward, slipping a piece of paper into Blaine’s pocket while the two of them stood frozen in shock. “I wouldn’t say no to a threesome.”

Before Kurt could say anything, Sebastian was walking away. Glaring daggers at Sebastian’s retreating back, Kurt ground out, “We’re either shredding that number or sending it to a bunch of telemarketers.”

“We aren’t going to call him?” Blaine asked.

Too busy trying to burn a hole through Sebastian, Kurt missed the laughter in Blaine’s voice. “No!” he turned to look at Blaine, mildly horrified. “Of course we’re not,” he made a grab for the paper. “Give me that.”

“I was joking,” Blaine laughed, handing the paper over. “I have no interest in spending more time than necessary with him.”

“You better have been joking,” Kurt grumbled.

Blaine rolled his eyes. “Come on, we’ve got some karaoke to partake in, and then we can see about finally consummating this marriage.”

“We are not doing…” Kurt glanced around, noticing the number of people who could overhear them. “ _That_ when your parents are home.”

“We’re adults-”

“Exactly. We have some self-control,” Blaine pouted, hurt lingering in his eyes. “Look,” Kurt said quietly, resting his forehead against Blaine’s. “I want to. I do. But I want to be able to take my time and not worry about someone interrupting us. Besides,” he added with a laugh. “We’ve gone about this whole thing backwards. We should probably give ourselves a little time to adjust before we get down and dirty.”

“Down and dirty?” Blaine giggled.

“You’re impossible,” Kurt huffed.

“Mmm, but I love you,” Blaine leaned forward, kissing Kurt lightly. “And you love me.”

“Since the day I met you.”

* * *

Around eleven they pulled up in front of Blaine’s parents’ house. They left the car running for a few minutes, finishing off their sing-a-long to Since You Been Gone, before climbing out.

When Blaine came around the side of the car, he weaved their fingers together. “I’d say this evening went rather well, how about you?”

Kurt laughed. “It definitely did not go as expected.”

“It was a good surprise though, right?”

“The best,” Kurt said, squeezing Blaine’s hand as they walked up the front steps.

They stopped in front of the door, Kurt expecting Blaine to pull his key out to let them both in. He didn’t though. Instead he just stood there staring at it.

“Blaine?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we going inside, or…?”

“Um-” Blaine turned to face him, blushing a little. “I was- I know it’s maybe a little cliche, but can I kiss you goodnight?”

Kurt shot him a confused look. “Sure… can we go inside now?”

“A kiss goodnight at the _door_ ,” Blaine laughed. “Right now. Come on, we can pretend that you’re dropping me off after our first date. It’ll be adorable.”

Kurt bit his bottom lip to suppress a giggle. “Okay,” he let go of Blaine’s hand, stepping closer and placing his hands on Blaine’s hips. “I had a really nice time tonight Blaine.”

Blaine grinned. “Thank you for coming along as my date.”

“Thank you for insisting I join you.”

They stared at each other for a long moment before they both burst out laughing.

“Okay, now that we have that out of the way, can we kiss? I want to get inside before the mosquitos find us.”

In response, Blaine rocked up a little on his toes, pressing their lips together while one of his hands moved to Kurt’s cheek, guiding him closer.

Kurt wasn’t sure how long they stood there kissing, but they were eventually brought back to reality by the front light flickering on and off.

Blaine glanced up. “Wha-?”

Kurt looked into the living room to see Blaine’s mom laughing. He blushed. “I think your parents may have spotted us.”

Blaine sighed. “I guess it’s time to go in and face the music then?”

“Well you don’t have to sound so excited about it,” Kurt laughed, poking Blaine’s side. “Besides, we’re _married_.”

Walking into the house, they were met with Blaine’s parents, both now in the hallway. “Any news you boys would like to share?” Pam asked, smirking at the two of them as they blushed. “Because last I heard you two were just friends who happened to be married. After that display out there though, we have some doubts.”

“Mom!” Blaine cringed. “It’s- We-”

Kurt took pity on him. “We got together at the party. We’re- dating now I guess?” he said, looking over at Blaine questioningly.

“I thought this might happen,” Mark said, looking amused.

“What?” Blaine laughed. “ _We_ had no idea it was going to happen, how would you?”

“I’ve seen enough of those holiday movies where two strangers pretend to date or get married for whatever reason, to know how this goes.”

Blaine stared at him. “Dad, what are you doing watching Hallmark movies?”

“What? They’re good background noise. You barely have to pay attention to the plot.”

“...Right. Well, we, ah, we’re going to go upstairs then?”

“Goodnight!” His mom called after them as they headed for the stairs. “We’re going to have lunch as a family tomorrow so we can talk about this.”

“Okay Mom, goodnight!”

They bounded up the stairs, Blaine tugging Kurt along as they went. When they reached the top, Blaine pulled Kurt towards his own room - not the guest bedroom where Kurt had slept the night before.

“Blaine, my-”

“Sleep in here tonight? Just sleep, I promise. I just-” Blaine paused, kissing Kurt lightly. “I want to wake up next to you. If that’s alright?”

“Of course.” Kurt tried to let go of Blaine’s hand so he could get his pjs, but Blaine held on. “I need to change first,” Kurt laughed.

“Oh, right. Okay.” Blaine let go. “I’ll see you in a few minutes then?”

“Alright.” Kurt didn’t move.

“Alright.”

“Okay,” Kurt took a step back. “I’m going now. I’ll be back.” He darted forward, pressing a kiss to Blaine’s lips before he managed to tear his gaze from Blaine’s, spinning around and heading to the guest bedroom with a smile spreading across his face. What a night.

* * *

Kurt woke up the next morning to the sound of Blaine snoring softly next to his ear. He smiled, shifting slightly so he could see Blaine. He looked so peaceful, eyelashes fanning across his cheeks, hair a mess, and his mouth hanging open just a little.

Kurt was _so_ in love with him. And, even better, Blaine loved him too.

He grinned, kissing the tip of Blaine’s nose. Blaine shifted a little in his sleep, and for a moment, Kurt thought he had woken up.

Kurt sighed, pulling back a little, content to just watch Blaine sleep a while longer. He needed sometime to bask in finally having Blaine as a - boyfriend? husband? His.

At some point, Kurt must have drifted off to sleep again because the next thing he knew, he was suddenly being woken up to Blaine’s lips on his.

He smiled. “Good morning.”

Blaine grinned back. “Good morning, Sunshine.” Kurt yawned, stretching, before shuffling his head onto Blaine’s shoulder. “You’re adorable when you sleep.”

Kurt blushed. “You’ve seen me sleep before,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, well,” Blaine scoffed. “I was never allowed to _tell_ you that before.”

“You’re underestimating how long I’ve been in love with you,” Kurt replied dryly.

Blaine lit up, rolling over to kiss Kurt soundly on the mouth.

Kurt laughed when Blaine pulled away. “What was that for?”

“You love me.”

“Yes, yes I do,” Kurt grinned back at him. “And _you_ love _me_.”

“A thing that needs celebration!”

“We’re at your par-”

“I know,” Blaine cut him off. “Can we at least have a healthy makeout session before we get up and I give you the grand tour of Westerville?”

“Mmm,” Kurt agreed, hands find their way to Blaine’s bare chest. “As if I could refuse that offer.”

* * *

“Hey Dad!” Kurt called, entering the house with a suitcase in hand, Blaine behind him.

“You’re early,” Burt commented, entering the hall. He stepped forward and immediately pulled Kurt into a hug. “The drive went well then?”

Kurt nodded, pulling away after a moment. “No traffic.”

Blaine stepped forward, holding his hand out for Burt to shake.

“It’s good to see you again sir,”

Burt rolled his eyes. “You’re my son-in-law, you get a hug.”

* * *

After a family dinner with Burt, Carole, Finn, and Rachel, Kurt and Blaine settled down for a movie with Burt and Carole while Finn and Rachel left for a movie of their own.

Kurt made some popcorn before entering the living room. He hesitated a fraction of a second before settling down on the couch next to Blaine. Blaine immediately moved to curl up next to Kurt, leaning into him, Carole shooting a curious smile in their direction.

Halfway through the movie, Kurt took his eyes off the TV, moving to kiss Blaine softly when he looked over at him.

Blaine grinned at him, shifting closer as Kurt put an arm around him.

“The two of you do know,” Burt started to say, causing the two of them to look over at him and Carole, reminded of their presence, “You don’t have to keep up the married act now that Finn  and Rachel are gone, right?”

The two of them glanced at each other before looking back at Burt and Carole. “We, uh,” Kurt paused before being interrupted by the phone ringing.

Burt sighed, moving to stand up. “I should get that, no one calls this late on a Saturday for no reason.”

They all listened as he answered the phone, talking to someone on the other end who apparently was having car trouble and hoped for a tow. By the time Burt had returned to the living room, having phoned one of the tow guys he had on call this weekend, the moment for their conversation had passed, and they all went back to the movie.

Once it had ended, Kurt told Blaine to head up to bed while he helped clean up. He wanted to talk to his dad about them by himself. He knew Burt was going to ask again.

“Wanna tell me what’s going on with you and Blaine?” Burt asked, as Kurt finished putting their bowls in the dishwasher.

Kurt bit down on a smile. “What do you mean?” he asked innocently, not turning around.

“Come on kid, I’m not blind. You two looked awful cozy on that couch, more so than usual.”

Kurt grinned, finally turning around to face his dad. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes, we’re dating. We’re- it’s new as of two days ago, but we’re giving it a try.” He bounced a little on his toes.

“Giving it a try?” Burt asked, raising an eyebrow. “You do know this is you and Blaine you’re talking about, right?”

Kurt shrugged. “I can’t exactly say ‘I think this is it, I think I’m going to marry him, Dad!’”

Burt laughed, stepping forward to hug him. “Well, I’m happy for the two of you. You coulda just told me you know.”

Kurt pulled away from the hug, heading for the door now. “Finn and Rachel were around and I couldn’t risk them overhearing. It only happened a few days ago”

When he got upstairs, he found Blaine lying in bed waiting for him. He smiled. “My dad knows.” Blaine grinned, reaching out for him. “Just give me five minutes, I need to brush my teeth.”

“Hurry _up_ , I want to cuddle,” Blaine teased. “And I need to hear all about how your conversation with Burt went.”

“You will,” he grinned at Blaine. “Just don’t fall asleep while I’m gone,” he winked.

“I _think_ I can stay awake long enough,” Blaine rolled his eyes. “It’s not even eleven yet.”

Kurt laughed. “Okay.” He walked to the door, looking back as he reached it. Blaine grinned at him, blowing him a kiss.

“Hurry back.”

* * *

On Sunday Kurt headed over to the loft for the Tony Award show party that Rachel was throwing. He showed up a few hours early as planned, to help set up. Blaine was supposed to meet him there later - when the party was actually supposed to start.

It was oddly refreshing to spend some time in the loft, just Santana, Rachel, and himself. He missed the two girls more than he ever let himself admit. “When’s McGellin showing up?” Okay. He did not miss _that._

“ _Blaine_ , is going to be here at eight.” He paused in his efforts to clean the counter, looking over his shoulder at her. “When’s your fuck of the week getting here?” he asked sweetly.

To his astonishment, Santana didn’t have a witty retort. Instead, it was Rachel who spoke up. “Brittany’s coming tonight.”

“Really?” Kurt asked, surprised he hadn’t known.

Santana pursed her lips as Rachel continued speaking. “She finished finals yesterday and told Santana she’d be visiting.”

Kurt opened his mouth, unsure how to respond to this, seeing as how Santana was _clearly_ freaking out more than a little bit over this.

Santana shook her head at him, saving him the trouble of having to find something to say. “Just- shut up. I’m going to see what happens.”

Nodding, Kurt went back to cleaning the counters, knowing it wasn’t really his place to interfere with that whole mess. There wasn’t really much he could even say except- “Just give it an actual chance? Don’t- don’t throw a lot of pressure at it and then immediately panic if it doesn’t seem to be working out.”

She didn’t respond, instead choosing to turn on the vacuum, which Kurt took as a good sign. At least she wasn’t attacking him for talking to her about it.

Once she’d finished cleaning the living room carpet, Kurt turned the conversation towards Rachel. “How’re things with you and Finn?”

“Good,” she sighed. “I miss him, it always sucks when one of us has to leave.” She sighed before brightening up a little. “Did he tell you that he’s going to visit next month?”

“Thank God I won’t be here!” Santana called from behind her curtain.

“I’m happy about that too!” Rachel called back. “He couldn’t make it tonight because he has to focus on the Glee club. It also wouldn’t make much sense for him to pay for the flight right after I _just_ visited.”

Kurt patted her arm sympathetically. “It’ll work out eventually. He just needs to work out his dreams and hopefully realize that he doesn’t have to live in Ohio to achieve them.”

Rachel nodded before straightening up, shaking off the lingering sadness. “How’re you and Blaine?”

Kurt tried not to beam at her. “We’re good. Really, really good.” He bit his lip, staring down at the forks, remembering last night when he’d come home to way too many (fake, it was a New York apartment after all) candles in their apartment and a surprise romantic dinner courtesy of Blaine. It’d been followed by a formal request by Blaine for Kurt to move into his room - permanently.

He glanced up to catch Santana giving him a calculating look. “Does that mean there won’t be a weird cloud hanging over your place next time I stop by.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, but decided not to snipe back at her because he knew Brittany’s impending arrival was making her nervous. “There was never a cloud, but if you want to come over at some point, we can have a movie night soon.”

* * *

Blaine arrived at seven, and the two of them promptly moved to the couch where they sat close together to watch the pre-Tony’s red carpet.

“We’re going to be there one day,” Rachel commented, settling down in the armchair next to them as a few people trickled into the apartment.

“Promise I’ll be your plus one when you get to go?” Kurt asked, twisting to look at her.

“As long as I get to be yours!”

“Deal,” Kurt agreed, holding his pinky out to her. “Pinky promise.”

“Hey!” Blaine huffed, trying to pull Kurt’s hand away from Rachel.

“What?” Kurt asked once Rachel and successfully hooked pinkies with him.

“As your husband I should get first dibs!” Rachel got up to greet some guests.

“Don’t worry sweetie,” Kurt grinned, patting Blaine on the cheek in what was meant to be a comforting manner, but was clearly not taken that way given Blaine’s pout. “Of course I’ll be your plus one when you go to the Tony’s.”

For all of three seconds Blaine managed to look offended before he pulled Kurt closer to himself, wrapping his arms tightly around his middle. He rested his chin on Kurt’s shoulder. “Why can’t _I_ be _your_ arm candy at the Tony’s?” he pouted.

Kurt laughed, pulling back far enough to kiss his cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll sneak you in.”

“Hey guys!” Elliott interrupted, joining them on the couch. “I’m surprised you’re here,” he said, smiling at them both.

Kurt blinked as Blaine loosened his hold on him a bit. “Why?”

“Well unless you’ve repeatedly been using the ‘Blaine and I have plans’ excuse in order to avoid me, you two have been pretty wrapped up in each other since you got back from Ohio.”

Kurt bit his lip to prevent a giant grin from spreading across his face.

“I have been monopolizing his time lately, haven’t I?” Blaine’s tone was apologetic, but the look on his face was anything but.

“Blaine!” a guy called out from across the room. “Get over here!”

Blaine looked over and sighed. “I should go talk to him. You two want anything while I’m up?” he asked, disentangling himself from Kurt and standing up.

“I could use a refill,” Kurt said with a nod to his empty wine glass while Elliott declined the offer with a shake of his head.

“How’ve you been Elliott? I’m sorry we haven’t gotten to hang out.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Elliott dismissed with a wave of his hand.

“Besides,” he added, his eyes sweeping up and down Kurt’s body. “I think the real question is ‘how have you been?’ I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy and relaxed.”

Kurt wouldn’t have been able to stop the smile that spread across his face even if he’d wanted to. “I’m…” his eyes found the back of Blaine’s head across the room.

“We’re taking advantage of summer break. It’s amazing how much more free time we both seem to have when there aren’t deadlines looming over us. I mean, I have my job - Isabelle’s paying me now! Did I tell you? - And Blaine’s been going to some tryouts, but,” he shrugged. “We both have evenings free now.”

Elliott smirked. “So you’re having a lot more sex?”

“Yes,” Kurt said, trying to remain as aloof as possible so as to avoid further questions. “Now tell me what you’ve been up to!”

* * *

“You know,” Blaine commented, while they washed the weeks dishes together a few weeks later. “We haven’t _really_ gone out on a date yet.”

Kurt set the plate he’d just finished drying into its proper cabinet. “We’ve been ...busy.” Kurt winked at Blaine before smacking him on the ass with the towel he’d been drying dishes with.

Blaine laughed, making a grab for him and promptly tugging him closer for a deep kiss. “As I was _saying_ ,” Blaine playfully admonished, turning off the faucet. “I was thinking we could go out for our six month anniversary. There’s this dinner theater that I went to with some of my friends last semester, and I’ve been wanting to take you there ever since.”

A smile spilled across Kurt’s face. “I would be honored.”

“Yeah?” Blaine asked, disbelief coloring his voice.

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Blaine’s fingers tightened around Kurt’s waist nervously. “I may have already bought tickets… how does Thursday night sound?”

“It sounds a little early for our six month anniversary. Let’s just call it a date.”

“Okay,” Blaine nodded quickly, eyes shining happily.

“Perfect.” Kurt tossed the dish towel onto the counter before moving to wrap his arms around Blaine’s shoulders. “You know what sounds even better right now?”

“W-what?” Blaine stuttered as Kurt let one of his hands slide down Blaine’s back, dipping the tips of his fingers under the waistband of Blaine’s jeans.

“It involves you, me,” he leaned forward, brushing a kiss against Blaine’s lips, “And the bedroom.”

They were halfway to the bedroom, Blaine’s shirt on the floor somewhere behind them, and Kurt’s completely unbuttoned when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Kurt pulled away with an annoyed huff. “I thought it was just going to be us this evening.”

Blaine kissed him briefly before pulling away and locating his shirt. “It still is. I’ll get rid of whoever’s at the door.”

There was another knock and Blaine pulled his shirt back on while Kurt did up the buttons on his own. Blaine opened the door. “Santana?”

“Oh thank god you’re home,” she said, pushing past Blaine and into the apartment. “Is Kurt here? My dress ripped and I ne-” she froze, eyes widening as they travelled from Kurt’s flushed face to Blaine’s disheveled appearance. “Holy shit. Were you two about to have sex?”

“Santana,” Blaine sighed, closing the door.

“We _are_ married,” Kurt retorted. “It shouldn’t be that big of a surprise.”

“I just-” she glanced between them. “Nevermind. Help me stitch this up and I’ll get out of your hair.”

Kurt sighed, but moved to get his sewing kit. “Blaine? Can you get her something to wear while I work on it?”

“I want this done quick, Hummel! Do I really need to take it off?”

“If you want it to look halfway decent,” Kurt said, pulling his sewing kit out of the guest room closet. “Plus, this way I won’t have to worry about stabbing you by mistake.”

He returned to the living room at the same time Blaine did, sweatpants and a t-shirt in hand.

“You go change real quick and I’ll have this fixed up in no time.”

She left the room, and Blaine glanced over at him. “We’re still having sex once she leaves, right?”

“Yes,” Kurt laughed, moving to kiss Blaine lightly. “It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to fix her dress up.” He opened his sewing kit, looking for thread that would match her dress best. “And then I’m sure we can pick up right where we left off.”


	13. Epilogue

On the day of their first wedding anniversary, Kurt woke up to sunlight creeping around the edges of their shades, and the sound of Blaine singing in the kitchen.

Kurt stretched, yawning, before he picked up his phone.

 **Kurt:** Come back to bed

He heard Blaine’s phone chime with an incoming text in the kitchen and waited, tossing his boxers in the general area of the hamper.

 **Blaine:** Shhh I have plans to surprise you with breakfast in bed

 **Kurt:** I just want _you_ in bed ;)

Blaine’s laugh rang out in the kitchen. “Just give me two more minutes.”

Kurt sighed, “I guess I can check my email while I wait…”

“Don’t you dare Kurt Hummel,” Blaine called back. “I have plans that don’t involve you thinking about work all day.”

Kurt let himself fall back onto the pillows. “Okay, okay, I’m putting the phone down,” he said, setting his phone back on the nightstand.

“Good. Now,” Blaine continued, footsteps heading towards the bedroom. “Indulge me and pretend you’re asleep?”

Blaine cracked the door open and peeked his head inside. Kurt grinned back at him, blatantly not pretending to be asleep.

“Such a disobedient husband.”

“Get in here with my breakfast,” Kurt teased.

Blaine rolled his eyes mockingly but stepped inside, kicking the door closed behind him. “I made you breakfast!” he announced, as though Kurt didn’t know already, as he set the tray up on the bed. “Chocolate chip pancakes, coffee, bacon, and some scrambled eggs.”

“What, no side of divorce?” Kurt teased, his joke falling flat as Blaine’s face fell minutely.

Before Kurt could say anything else however, Blaine spoke. “Why would I taint breakfast with a sour aftertaste?”

Kurt was tempted to press Blaine on the subject, because he wanted to make sure Blaine knew that _he_ didn’t really want a divorce, but, wary of rejection, he instead pulled a plate of food towards himself. “It smells delicious.”

And with that, the subject was dropped for the time being.

“So,” Blaine said, giving Kurt a once over after a few minutes of eating. “What happened to the not eating shirtless rule?”

Kurt shrugged, grinning at him cheekily. “The same thing that happened to your ‘no eating in bed’ rule.”

“It’s not my fault. I didn’t know how appealing breakfast in bed could be until we started sleeping together!” He looked over at Kurt again. “We should also probably drop the no shirt rule because of how appealing you make it,” Blaine waggled his eyebrows.

Kurt shoved his shoulder, laughing and shaking his head.

“What?” Blaine finally asked.

“You are such a dork.” Blaine pouted. Kurt sighed in mock exasperation. “Do you think all marrieds have to put up with silly come ons from their husband?”

“‘Marrieds?’” Blaine asked with a chuckle, moving the tray to the floor.

“Yes, ‘marrieds,’” Kurt raised an eyebrow in challenge, purposely ruining the effect as he rolled onto his side, hooking a bare ankle around Blaine’s.

“We should probably talk about the marriage thing,” Blaine said, his expression turning serious.

Nervous about what Blaine would say, Kurt scooted closer to him, bare calf flush against Blaine’s as he brought a hand to Blaine’s thigh, right where his boxers stopped. “What about it?”

“About-” Blaine’s breath hitched as Kurt walked his fingers closer to his cock. “About our marriage. Because- oh god,” Blaine gasped as Kurt brushed his fingers over Blaine’s clothed cock. “Are you-?” Blaine started to ask, his hands wandering down Kurt’s body until he was able to determine for himself that Kurt was in fact _completely_ naked under the covers. He moaned, squeezing Kurt’s ass. “You’re so hot,” he said, pulling Kurt on top of him.

* * *

Kurt was coming down from his orgasm, Blaine resting his head on his shoulder when Blaine reached over him, pulling something out of his nightstand. “Stay married to me?” he asked, placing something on Kurt’s chest.

Kurt blinked down at it, trying to get his breathing under control. It took him a moment to process what Blaine had asked. “Wha-? Is that-?” He picked up the little ring box, staring at the ring inside of it. “Are you-” Kurt stopped, too busy trying to make his brain catch up.

“It’s, um, your mom’s ring. I wanted something physical to give you, and when I talked to your dad-” Blaine took a breath as Kurt ran his finger over the ring. “It’s yours no matter what your answer is, but I wanted to do the proposal the right way.”

Kurt laughed. “I can’t believe you-” he shook his head, beaming. “My answer is yes,” Blaine kissed his neck - the closest part of Kurt to him - “but I’m not sure most people would consider your proposal very orthodox.”

“I almost put the ring in the scrambled eggs,” Blaine confessed, unable to stop smiling at Kurt.

Kurt’s mouth dropped open in horror. “You _what?_ ”

Blaine’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. “I thought it would be cute!” Kurt glowered. “Obviously I came to my senses though! I had plans to be a _little_ more romantic. You were the one who ruined that mister ‘I know you’re in the middle of saying something, but I just have to stick my hand down your pants. And by the way, _I’ve been naked under here the whole time_.’”

Kurt nuzzled under Blaine’s ear. “If you ever propose to me again, you’re just going to have to find the middle ground. I mean, going from public serenade to right after I orgasm?”

“Whoops?” Blaine shrugged, not looking sorry at all.

“I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do with you,” Kurt said, biting on his lip to keep from smiling.

“Love me?” Blaine fluttered his eyelashes. “And try to avoid telling our children about how our marriage was a sham at first.”

“Maybe we can just threaten them with arranged marriages.”

“Well, they’ll have to carry on the Anderson-Hummel dynasty of course, and strategic marriages are at the core of achieving that,” Blaine agreed, mock serious.

Kurt laughed, kissing Blaine’s arm lightly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I’m still making you get a washcloth.”

“I know.”

* * *

“Okay, so how exactly does this whole ‘getting engaged when we’re already married,’ thing work?” Kurt asked that night as they lay sprawled out on the couch, dinner sitting mostly eaten on the coffee table.

“I was planning on asking you the same thing,” Blaine replied, squeezing his hand.

“All I know, is that we need to tell your parents that it’s not about the money.”

“We’ll have to tell _my_ parents to stop laughing about how they knew this would happen because they have an unhealthy obsession with Hallmark and Lifetime movies.”

“They already know,” Kurt pointed out. “We don’t tell your brother though.”

“He’d be so thrilled though!”

Kurt laughed as Blaine nuzzled his shoulder.

“Should we tell everyone about it? Can they retroactively take the money away from you?” Kurt asked.

“Once it’s mine, it’s mine whether we lied or not. So we can tell them.”

“Does that mean we can invite them all to dinner and just announce our engagement as though we’re not even married?” Kurt asked, an evil grin spreading across his face.

Blaine’s eyebrows shot up, a smile threatening to spread across his face. “Does it go against the rules to throw ourselves an engagement party? We never got one the first time around!”

“Can you imagine the invitations?” Kurt laughed.

Blaine laughed, turning and nuzzling his nose against Kurt’s cheek. “We should probably tell them all. Just- not yet? I need to get everything settled with the lawyers.”

“And then we need to rework our finances because if we’re doing this for real, we need to talk about that.”

Blaine nodded. “Are you feeling better about not going to London now?”

“I got a part in a Broadway show, of _course_ I don’t feel all that bad about it,” Kurt laughed. “It might just be as a chorus member, but I have to start somewhere.”

They lay in silence for a while before Blaine tentatively started to speak. “Would it be crazy if I said I wanted to stay your husband?”

Kurt blinked, “I thought that was what the proposal was all about?”

Blaine rolled onto his side to look at Kurt. “It was- I just-” He let out a frustrated huff. “I just want to be married to you. We’ve been husbands for a _year_ now. We’ve been actually dating for more than half of that, and I-,” he grabbed Kurt’s hand. “I feel as though we’d be taking an unnecessary step back if we start calling ourselves engaged. I was…” he paused, licking his lips nervously. “Feel free to tell me it’s too much and I swear I’ll back off, but my intention with the proposal was more about reaffirming our relationship? If you want another ceremony, I’d be open to doing a vow renewal, but I was thinking we could just do something a bit more private between the two of us?”

Kurt took a moment to process the information before squeezing Blaine’s hand gently. “Staying husbands sounds perfect. And maybe a vow renewal ceremony eventually, but right now this is all I need.” Blaine tilted their foreheads together, kissing him softly. “You sounded like you had an idea though?”

“Yeah, I-” Blaine wiggled his ring off his finger. “I was thinking we could get something engraved on the inside of these? We didn’t really do anything to personalize the rings or tailor them to our relationship before, and I thought it could be nice, having something personal there that no one else knows about.”

Kurt laid a palm on Blaine’s chest. “I think that sounds perfect. Now put that ring back on.”

“Yes sir,” Blaine grinned. He bit his lip. “You’re really on board with this idea? Because it’s okay if you’re not, I’ll un-”

Kurt leaned forward, kissing him hard. “I am very much on board with your idea. And I think maybe we should just… not tell everyone about why we originally got married. It would probably only make them angry, and it’s not like we’re lying about anything anymore.”

“Whatever you want,” Blaine grinned at him before promptly yawning in Kurt’s face.

“Time for bed, sleepy?” Kurt asked.

Blaine nodded, eyes scrunching closed as he yawned.

“See, this is what happens when you stay up late and then try to wake up early to do nice things like make me breakfast in bed, you’re ready for bed at nine pm. This is why we never go out anymore.”

“We never go out anymore because we’re an old married couple,” Blaine replied, standing up.

“We’re an old married couple because you go to bed so early,” Kurt retorted, picking their plates off of the coffee table as he stood up.

“You love our old married couple ways,” Blaine said, somehow managing to pull him into a short kiss without bumping into their plates.

“I love _you_ ,” he turned, heading for the kitchen. “Go get ready for bed, I’ll come join you in a minute.”

“Okay,” Blaine yawned. “I’m _tired_.”

Kurt smiled, walking into the kitchen as Blaine retreated to their room. If someone had told him a year ago today that this is where he’d be today – married to Blaine because they were in _love_ \- he would have laughed. Apparently, however, a lot could change over the course of year, and Kurt wasn’t going to complain about it.

* * *

** Three Years Later **

The night before Santana and Brittany’s wedding they all - Rachel, Finn, Puck, Quinn, Artie, Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Tina, Mike, and Sam - went out for drinks after the rehearsal dinner wrapped up. To Kurt’s chagrin, Blaine was soon three drinks in and, with the celebratory atmosphere, he was overly talkative, sharing stories that Kurt would rather have no one know.

“Tell us something we don’t know about your wedding, Blaine!” Artie called down the table.

“Behind the scenes drama!” Tina declared.

“I don’t know about drama,” Blaine frowned. “It was rather drama free.”

“Oh come on,” Santana rolled her eyes. “You’re both control freaks; there must have been some drama. Even Brit and I had a few fights over decorations.”

“If we’d been together there would have been drama,” Blaine shrugged, downing the rest of his beer as Kurt winced. “That’s why we had that big fight while planning our vow renewal ceremony.”

Everyone gave Blaine a funny look, except for Brittany who was too busy trying to kiss Santana. Eventually, Sam turned to look at Kurt. “What is he talking about?”

Kurt sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before looking around at them all. Blaine’s eyes had gone wide in panic. Kurt squeezed his leg, leaning over to whisper, “I guess now works for telling them.” He took a breath, stealing himself for their anger.

“We didn’t actually start the… romantic part of our relationship until after we’d been married for four or five months.”

His statement was met with silence and confused looks.

He rolled his eyes. “We got married so that Blaine could inherit from his grandparents. And we had to pretend to be in love because the terms of the will meant that the more people who knew, the more at risk we were of someone discovering the lie, which would have meant someone else inheriting.”

“I knew something was weird about you two,” Santana said with a triumphant grin. She turned to Puck. “You owe me twenty dollars.”

Rachel ignored her. “But now you can tell us?” she asked, glaring over at him.

Blaine fiddled with his empty beer bottle, looking far more sober than he had five minutes before. “It can’t be spread around everywhere, but yeah, the first year we had to keep it quiet.”

Kurt chanced a glance at Finn, who stared back, looking hurt. “Our parents, they knew?”

Kurt nodded. “I wanted to tell you – all of you -,” he glanced around at them all, Blaine squeezing his hand under the table, anchoring him. “We couldn’t risk it though. We didn’t want to put any of you in the position of having to lie, and the less people who knew, the safer we were.”

The silence stretched for a long moment before Mercedes burst out laughing. “Let me get this straight, you two _got married_ , _pretended_ _to be_ _intimate_ , and it took you _months_ to realize you were in love with each other?”

Everyone else started laughing at this. Kurt couldn’t stop himself from smiling along with them. “That about sums it up, yeah.”

“You two are so strange,” Quinn commented with a shake of her head, and a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “I’m just surprised you two finally worked it out.”

“We were all wondering why you guys needed a vow renewal ceremony so soon after you got married.”

A few more teasing remarks were made, and then the conversation shifted back to other topics.

Blaine rested his head on Kurt’s shoulder. “Sorry I let it slip.”

Kurt kissed the top of his head lightly. “It’s alright, they seemed oddly alright with it. I’m sure we’ll hear about it again later, but it was probably time they knew.”

“I still don’t regret it.”

“Neither do I.”

* * *

**One Year Later**

Kurt stretched, yawning after the nap he’d accidentally taken. He smiled as he heard Blaine plunking away at the piano down the hall. Just as he was contemplating getting up and joining Blaine, his phone rang.

He glanced over, sitting up against the headboard as he picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Kurt?”

“Yeah, who else would it be Finn? You called my phone.”

“Right. Well, I have some news.”

“Ooo,” Kurt straightened up. “News?”

“Yeah. Rachel and I are getting married.” Kurt let out an excited squeak as Finn continued. “Like a normal wedding where two people stand in front of their friends and family and commit their lives to each other because they’re _in love_.”

“I know you’re trying to be all clever and make fun of me, but I don’t even care right now because I’m just so excited for you!” He bounced excitedly. “You’re finally getting married! Tell me _everything_ and then have Rachel give me a call so she can give me her side of the story!”

“I have to get off the phone and call Puck in a minute, but I can give you the short version if you want?”

“Yes please!” Kurt said excitedly, grinning at Blaine who’d just entered the room.

“First of all, you should know that I didn’t ask her to marry me so I could inherit some money. I-”

“Finn!” Kurt half laughed, half shouted into the phone. “I get it, okay?” he beckoned Blaine over. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner. Now will you get on with the actual story before I make Blaine call Rachel to ask her?”

Finn laughed. “She wants to tell you guys about it first actually. I just had to call you first to tease you. I’ll have her call when she’s off the phone with her dads.”

“Alright, love you Finn,” Kurt said.

“Love you too bro.”

“What’s up?” Blaine asked after Kurt had set his phone down on the table.

“Finn finally proposed to Rachel… again.”

“Again?”

“If we’re counting crazy high school proposals, then yes it is ‘again.’”

“Well,” Blaine kissed his cheek lightly. “It’s about time they got engaged.”

“They’ve only been living in the same state for a few months,” Kurt shrugged. He rolled his eyes and smiled. “It’s definitely about time.”

Blaine shifted, lifting Kurt’s arm and putting it around his shoulders. “Does this mean we should wait a few weeks before we share our news with them?”

Kurt pulled Blaine closer. “I don’t think I could make it through dinner next week without spilling the beans.”

Blaine nodded, playing with the ring on his finger silently. He bit back a smile, looking over at Kurt. “I can’t believe that we’re going to be parents.”

“ _Eventually_.” Kurt said firmly. “It can take years to be matched with a surrogate.”

“I know, I know,” Blaine sighed. “I’m just _excited_.”

Kurt weaved their fingers together. "I can't wait."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Reblog on tumblr: http://nineofhearts4.tumblr.com/post/115064635159/play-pretend


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